Figure 1.

Characteristics of sHSPs in mammals: The figure illustrates several characteristics of sHSPs in mammals. Firstly, sHSPs share a conserved ACD, which are flanked by variable NTR and CTR (A). In addition, sHSPs are capable of forming homo- or heteromeric dimers or oligomers, whereby the latter are formed through multiple steps (B). HSPB1/5/6/8 are ubiquitously expressed in the human body, whereas HSPB2/3/4/7/9/10 show tissue-specific expression patterns (C). sHSPs are widely involved in various important cellular activities (D). The activity of sHSPs is regulated by phosphorylation cascades (E). Finally, abnormalities of sHSPs are closely associated with disease (F).