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. 2009 Jun 5;5(6):e1000507. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000507

Figure 4. Hsp70 prevents PrP misfolding.

Figure 4

(A–D) Hsp70 modulates PrP dynamics. (A) 1 day-old flies co-expressing Hsp70 and PrP (OK107-Gal4/h-Hsp70/PrP-M6) accumulate less total PrP than controls (OK107-Gal4/CD8-GFP/PrP-M6). (B) Quantitative RT-PCR indicates that the levels of PrP transcripts are not reduced by Hsp70. (C) 1 day-old flies co-expressing Hsc4-dn and PrP (OK107/Hsc4-dn/PrP-M6) accumulate more total PrP than controls in western blot. (D) Quantitation of PrP in western blot indicates that Hsp70 reduces total PrP by 40%, while Hsc4-dn increases PrP by 35% (p<0.001). Densitometry was averaged from three independent experiments and normalized against Tub. (E) Hsp70 prevents the accumulation of PrPSc-like conformers. 1 day-old control GFP/PrP flies accumulate a small amount of 15B3 immunoreactivity, but Hsp70 completely eliminates 15B3-reactive PrP isoforms. 40 day-old Hsp70/PrP flies show a dramatic reduction in 15B3 signal compared with old GFP/PrP flies.