Heat proof

German researchers are creatingplants that can withstand climatechanges. Usually plants use 'heat-shock factors' to make denaturedproteins resume their shape. Bymodifying these heat-shock factors(HSF-1), researchers have created aheat tolerant form of thale cress -Arabidopsis thatiana. When Athatiana gets too hot, HSF-I entersthe cell nucleus, turning on heat-shock protein-producing genes.Schoffl found that by fusing HSF- Ito an enzyme called glucuronidasethese genes could be made active atnormal temperatures, making thecell produce a constant supply ofheat shock proteins (New Scientist,Vol 154, No 2082).