The small heat shock proteins function as molecular chaperones, an activ-ity often requiring reversible oligomerization and which protects against irreversible protein denaturation. An abundantly produced small heat shock protein termed p26 is thought to contribute to the remarkable stress resistance exhibited by encysted embryos of the crustacean,Artemia francis-cana. Three novel sequence motifs termed G, R and TS were individually deleted from p26 by site-directed mutagenesis.
