Fig. 1. Noradrenaline induces the hsp70 gene promoter in oyster Crassostrea gigas and abalone Haliotis tuberculata immune cells. Hemocytes transfected with a gene construct containing the luciferase reporter-gene under the transcriptional control of the mollusc hsp70 gene promoter (hsp-luc) were exposed to NA for 24 hours. Exposure to NA resulted in increased luciferase activity in both oyster (A) and abalone (B) hemocytes. Luciferase activity was however almost twice as high in oyster than in abalone hemocytes, which is probably due to lower transfection efficiency and cell viability in abalone hemocytes. Constructs containing the hsp70 gene promoter alone (hsp only) or the luciferase gene alone (luc only) were used as controls. Data are means and standard errors of three replicate experiments. Asterisks denote significant (* for P<0.05, ** for P<0.01) differences from samples incubated in the absence of NA.
