Transcriptome Characterization of Heat Shock Response in White Leghorn Chicken Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (LMH) Cells

The heat shock response involves highly conserved pathways that help biological systems adapt to thermal stress at the cellular and organismal level.  In cells, the heat shock response stabilizes cellular components and processes, thereby increasing the likelihood of surviving thermal stress.   The expression levels of many genes change, either positively or negatively, in response to heat. The objective of this study was to use RNAseq to identify all transcripts whose levels are affected by heat stress.  We used Illumina RNA-sequencing technology and the Tuxedo informatics pipeline to quantitatively assay global RNA production in control (37^oC) and heat stress (43^oC) white leghorn chicken liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LMH) cells.  Cells were exposed to heat stress for 2.5 hours and immediately harvested.  Statistically significant changes in expression of more than 600 transcripts (3% of total) were identified, including genes affecting protein folding, DNA replication and DNA repair.  In addition, numerous genes with multiple alternative splice forms were identified, some of which were affected by heat stress.  These studies provide an important first step for further characterization of genes that respond to heat stress in the chicken.