HSP10 and HSP20 involved in the adaptation of Eriocheir sinensis under air exposure stress

Air exposure stress is one of the most common challenges faced by aquatic animals. Eriocheir sinensis, as a migratory crustacean that inhabits a variety of environments, is an excellent model for studying air exposure adaptation in aquatic animals. Small heat shock proteins (sHSPs), HSP10 and HSP20, as highly conserved molecular chaperones, are often involved in various stresses. Therefore, we aim to explore the functional information of sHSPs in stress resistance and evolution in the E. sinensis. In this study, through the E. sinensis genome, five HSP10 and fourteen HSP20 sequences were identified. HSP20 sequences showed differently duplicated models including tandem duplications and proximal duplications. Four HSP10 and one HSP20 were not expressed in all transcriptome data and were identified as pseudogenes. It was thought that the production of these pseudogenes was caused by the absence of key motifs. Except for these pseudogenes, all genes were responsive to air exposure stress in hepatopancreas, indicating that HSP10 and HSP20 were involved in the response of E. sinensis to air exposure stress. RNA interference assay revealed that HSP20 response to air exposure stress were regulated by hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha). The count difference of exon and intron in HSP20 could influence whether HSP20 was expressed in the gills or not under stress. Tandem duplications located on different chromosomes had differences in gene expression, which may result from selective pressure. These results should deepen our understanding of the stress resistance functions of sHSPs and offer new insights into the environmental adaptation of E. sinensis.