Proline analogs, L-azetidine-2-carboxylic acid and 3,4-dehydro-L-proline, induce stress response in Drosophila Kc cells

Amino acid analogs, like other inducers of stress response, induce the synthesis of stress proteins in mammalian cells, In this study, Drosophila Kc cells, in which translation is tightly controlled during stress response, was treated with proline analogs, L-azetidline-2-carboxylic acid (AzC) and 3,4-dehydro-L-proline (dh-P), Kc cells exposed to AzC or dh-P induced the synthesis of several proteins which had the same molecular weights as known heat shock proteins. However, in Kc cells, normal protein synthesis still continued in the presence of amino acids analogs unlike in heat-shocked cells. For the induction of stress response, the incorporation of dh-P into the protein was not essential, but the incorporation of AzC was, The stress protein synthesis was regulated mainly at the transcriptional level by AzC, whereas it was regulated by dh-P at the transcription level and possibly post-transcription level. During recovery, the stress protein synthesis stopped sooner in analog-treated cells than in heat-shocked cells even though the accumulated amount of Hsp70 was much less in proline analogs-treated cells, It could be concluded that the proline analogs, AzC and dh-P, induced stress response through a different mechanism from heat shock.