Arabidopsis heat stress

Reviewing GO annotations for 10 genes of the heat stress response network

AI Gene Review · projects/ARATH_HEAT_STRESS · 2026

Bottom line

  • Heat tolerance runs through a cascade: HSFA1 master regulators switch on HSFA2 / DREB2A / HSFA3, and chaperones protect proteins and feed back on the HSFs.
  • We reviewed all 268 existing GO annotations on 10 genes: 184 accepted, 44 non-core, 22 modified, 5 over-annotated, 11 removed, 2 undecided, plus 7 new.
  • Main corrections: protein binding → specific partner terms; chloroplast rows removed for cytosolic HSP101 and HSC70-1; sharper HSFA3 / DREB2A terms.

The network we reviewed

Why this network

  • Strong genetics: the hsfa1a/b/d triple mutant and hot1 (HSP101) mutants lose thermotolerance.
  • Distinct roles that a review should keep apart:
    • master regulators (HSFA1A/B/D) vs amplifiers (HSFA2, HSFA3)
    • a positive chaperone effector (HSP101) vs a negative regulator (HSC70-1)
    • a cross-stress integrator (DREB2A)
  • The failure mode to avoid: tagging every gene "response to heat" and stopping.

Actions per gene

Counts from the current review files; the tables in projects/ARATH_HEAT_STRESS.md date from Nov 2025.

What a review looks like

HSP101 (AT1G74310) review page: each GOA row gets an action, a reason and supporting text.

Main corrections

  1. protein binding (GO:0005515) IPI rows → specific terms: HSFA1B → heat shock protein binding, HSFA1D → Hsp90 protein binding, HSC70-1 → DNA-binding TF binding, HSP101 → 14-3-3 protein binding; four HSP90.1 rows removed.
  2. Localization: HSP101 chloroplast stroma/envelope (HDA) and HSC70-1 chloroplast rows removed; both proteins are cytosolic.
  3. Process: HSFA3 response to heat → heat acclimation (GO:0010286); HSP101 protein unfolding → protein refolding.
  4. DREB2A: protein binding rows → transcription coregulator binding / ubiquitin protein ligase binding (two removed); DNA-binding TF activity → activator activity, RNA Pol II-specific.

Status and next steps

  • ✅ 10/10 gene reviews complete (Tier 1 regulators, Tier 2 chaperones, Tier 3 integrators).
  • ✅ Per-gene tables on the project page refreshed from the current files.
  • ✅ The duplicate DREB2A review (AT5G05410/) was merged into genes/ARATH/DREB2A/ (#3231); counts use the merged file.
  • ⬜ Network integration: capture HSF → target hierarchy (module or GO-CAM).

Read more: projects/ARATH_HEAT_STRESS.md · genes/ARATH/<LOCUS>/