Regulation of gene expression in corn (Zea mays L.) by heat shock. II. In vitro analysis of RNAs from heat-shocked seedlings.

Five-day-old maize seedlings subjected to heat shock exhibit a dramatic enhancement in the synthesis of a small group of polypeptides. Isolation of total RNA from control and heat-shocked maize plumules, fractionation of poly(A)+ mRNA by oligo(dT)-cellulose chromatography, and in vitro translations of the RNAs in both the rabbit reticulocyte and the wheat germ systems indicates that there is remarkable fidelity of the mRNA pool obtained from heat-shocked plumules to reproduce in vitro those same polypeptides whose synthesis is greatly elevated in the intact, heat-shocked plumule. Moreover, these heat-shock polypeptides with molecular masses of 108 000, 89 000, 84 000, 73 000, and 18 000 are translated from polyadenylated mRNAs. The absence of a 76 000 dalton heat-shock polypeptide (HSP) and the presence of fewer isoelectric point variants of the 89 000 and 84 000 dalton HSPs among the in vitro translation products suggests that translational and (or) posttranslational regulatory mechanisms might be operative in determining the final spectrum of the maize heat-shock proteins.