Cold Shock Response and Adaptation Book Reviews
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Review by Microbiology Today 28: 158. August 2001 A collection of six review articles describing cold shock responses of bacteria, plants and mammalian cells. The main focus is on bacteria, covered in four of the chapters, with a bias towards genetic expression during exposure of cells to low temperatures. I walked away from the book feeling that the story was only part told. Where, for example, was the information on cell physiology? The book will appeal to researchers in the field of temperature shock. Sadly, it lacks a comprehensive general overview, which may have helped to attract a wider reader base. A specialist's book, recommended for the better-stocked libraries.
Review by Cryobiology 42: 222-223. 2001 Any modification of environmental parameters leading to a response by organisms may be considered a stress. Stresses affecting biological structures are usually divided into nonthermal stresses and stresses including "heat shock" and "cold shock". Response to cold shock can be passive (e.g., cells are injured) or active, which leads to adaptation.
Since the historic paper from Jones. VanBogelen and Neidhardt (J Bacteriol. 169:
2092-2095 1987), a tremendous amount of data concerning the cold shock responses of organisms
has been published. The seven chapters included in the book edited by lnouye and Yamanaka
were originally presented in a written symposium published by the Journal of Molecular
Microbiology and Biotechnology. Some chapters in the book have been updated and revised.
The first chapter is an introduction by M. Inouye, whereas the six following
chapters focus on particular organisms. As a result this book is the first on cold shock research
to encompass the whole range from bacteria to humans, including
Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, psychrotrophic bacteria, cyanobacteria, plants, and mammalian cells. Responses to high temperature shock have been and continue to be extensively studied: in heat shock responses, the heat shock sigma factor plays a major role in the induction of heat shock proteins, including molecular chaperones and proteases. In comparison, cold
shock responses have been studied less but this work also covers a large diversity of organisms in
both the prokaryotes and the eukaryotes. One of the aims of this book was to show that
organisms present, concomitantly, common functions (e.g.. increasing the membrane fluidity and
enhancing translation) and specific functions.
In the chapter on Escherichia coli, K. Yamanaka reviews the mechanisms of this bacterium's response to cold shock, how the expression of cold shock proteins (CSPs) is regulated, and what their functions are. P. L. Graumann and M. A. Marahiel have studied the physiolgy of
Bacillus subtilis following a rapid decrease in temperature. They concentrate upon membrane composition, chromosome topology, and cytosolic protein synthesis and composition. Among the functions of the CSPs the authors showed a particular interest in prolyl isomerases and RNA chaperones. M. Hebraud and P. Potier have studied the specific adaptative strategies of
psychrotrophic prokaryotes, organisms that are capable of developing close to or below freezing. Among
the specific characteristics of the cold shock response in psychrotrophic bacteria are the
unrepressed synthesis of the housekeeping proteins and the synthesis of cold acclimation proteins
(CAPs). which are continuously synthesized during prolonged growth at low temperature. CAPs are
of particular importance since they differentiate psychrotrophs from mesophiles and are
probably one of the key determinants that allow life at very low temperature.
To approach the cold shock responses in cyanobacteria. D. A. Los and N. Murata
clearly described four major families of CSPs: fatty acid desaturases. RNA-binding proteins,
RNA helicases, and Clp proteins. Interestingly, the authors noted the presence of a
cold-sensing mechanism that is associated with the membrane lipids.
According to C. Guy, who reviewed the molecular responses of plants to cold
shock, significant progress in understanding the responses of plants to low temperature has occurred
in the areas of signal perception and transduction pathways, transcriptional control.
and characterization of a variety of stress-related proteins. Further advances in understanding
cold acclimation in plants is stimulated by the prospect that genetically modified crops could
enhance tolerance to cold stress. Hypothetically this could lead to a reduction of economic loss
but, unfortunately, the author did not address the ethical questions that could be generated by
this commercial approach.
Compared to that in bacteria and plants, cold shock response in mammals has attracted
little attention. J. Fujita, who discussed this subject, showed some interesting results relating to
"mild hypothermia," which can lead to synthesis of CSPs such as APG-l (HSP110 family) and
CIRP (RNA-binding protein). The author emphasized the relationship between cold stress and hypoxia.
This book is clearly the first compilation of knowledge related to the molecular responses
of organisms to cold shock. It is sometimes difficult to find connections between different
chapters, but perhaps it is not yet possible to construct a unifying model that can link the
different hypothetical mechanisms of response to low temperature.
This symposium provides a unique opportunity to access and review the literature on
cold shock responses and adaptation within a single volume.
Scientists have only been studying the responses and adaptations of organisms to cold for the last 20 years. This book is a very good starting point for those interested in this relatively new area of research, as it brings together wide ranging research from bacterial, plant and mammalian cells. The book consists of review chapters on the major areas of research written by eminent scientists about their particular fields. Chapter 2 covers the cold shock response in Escherichia coli, Chapter 3 reviews the work in Bacillus subtilis, whilst Chapters 4 and 5 cover the research in psychrotrophic bacteria and cyanobacteria, respectively. Chapter 6 is reserved for the work in plants, and Chapter 7 for that in mammalian cells. It is difficult to assess the accuracy of the text without doing an extensive review of every area, although the bacterial chapters are accurate. The reviews are well written, although a degree of background knowledge is expected that may make some sections challenging to those unfamiliar with the field. For example, some may have difficulty with the references to the structural biology of proteins. Moreover, researchers working solely on bacterial cells may find the mammalian chapter difficult without cell cycling knowledge. Nevertheless, it is still possible to gain a large amount of information about each topic without being an expert in the area. In addition, the reviews are well referenced, so topics can easily be investigated further. There were only a few negative points about the book. Some of the chapters cover such a large amount of research that they can be a little hard going. This applies in particular to Chapter 2 on the cold shock response of E. coli. The organism was one of the first used to investigate the cold shock response, and as a result an extensive amount of work has been carried out. In addition, there are a few cases where better organization of the chapter would have aided the reader's understanding. Chapter 3, covering the work on B. subtilis, abbreviates many of the protein names in the text. The names are provided in a comprehensive table, but it requires considerable cross-referencing to identify the proteins, making understanding troublesome. Furthermore, a few of the figures in Chapter 6 need more explanation. These problems, however, do little to damage the value of the reviews. The cold shock response and adaptation have implications for the understanding of many processes within cells, not to mention implications for food hygiene and frost protection of crops. The identification of common mechanisms to protect cells against cold shock may have implications in human diseases, as is the case with the heat shock response and heat shock proteins. In addition, the bacterial stress proteins may be involved in bacterial virulence and could potentially be important antimicrobial targets for the future. The reviews were originally presented as a written symposium in the Journal of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology (Vol. 1, No.2, November 1999) and, therefore, could potentially be obtained at a lower price than 59.99. Regardless of their source, the reviews themselves are likely to be very useful for a wide range of scientists.
Glyn Hobbs
Liverpool John Moores University
Jean Michel Panoff
Food Microbiology Laboratory, University of Caen - Basse Normandie Caen, France
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Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 49: 885. (2002) Review by Kirstie Norgate