The grounds between the Southern Coasts of Sicily and the Northern Coasts of Africa; the area is over-imposed with the geographical zones considered in the present contribute: South Sicily (GSA 16), Malta Islands (GSA 15) and transitional midline (zone B).

<p>The overall extension is 100000 km² and the dotted line denotes the 200 m depth level.</p

Full-length cDNA and protein sequences of sea anemone <i>AvHSP28.6</i>.

<p>The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence of the ORF, 5′- and 3′-UTRs were numbered on the right. The amino acids that constitute the alpha-crystallin domain (ACD) were shaded in violet. A schematic representation of HSP28.6 indicating the predicted domains is also provided.</p

Multiple protein sequence alignment of <i>A. viridis</i> HSP28.6 and HSP27 with other cnidarians sHSPs.

<p>Only the ACD from different cnidarians sHSPs were used. Accession numbers and species are listed in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0105908#pone-0105908-t002" target="_blank">Table 2</a>.</p

Expression profiles of <i>AvHSP28.6</i> in response to extreme temperature stress.

<p>Sea anemones were challenged by heat shock stress at 28°C and cold shock stress at 4°C. The tentacles were sampled at different time points post-challenge (0.5H, 2H and 6H). The expression level of <i>AvHSP28.6</i> was analyzed by qRT-PCR with 18S rRNA as reference. The results are represented as means ± S.D. (n = 3). Statistical analysis by one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-test. Data with different letters are statistically different: a = <i>p</i><0.0001, b = <i>p</i><0.001, c<0.01.</p

Oligonucleotide primers used in this study.

<p>*qHSP-F and qHSP28.6-R were used for the selective amplification of HSP28.6;</p><p>qHSP-F and qHSP27-R were used for the selective amplification of HSP27.</p><p>Oligonucleotide primers used in this study.</p

Expression profiles of <i>AvHSP28.6</i> in response immune stinulation.

<p>Sea anemones were exposed LPS (1 µg/ml) for 18H. The expression level of <i>AvHSP28.6</i> was analyzed by qRT-PCR with 18S rRNA as reference. The results are represented as means ± S.D. (n = 3). Statistical analysis by one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-test: a = <i>p</i><0.0001.</p

Neighbour-Joining (NJ) phylogenetic tree based on the ACD of cnidarians and other Eumetazoa.

<p>The tree was generated using MEGA 6.0 including sHSP from 19 different species ranging from aves to bacteria. All the sequences used were obtained from GenBank at NCBI and listed in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0105908#pone-0105908-t003" target="_blank">Table 3</a>. The sHSPs from <i>Salpingoeca rosetta</i> (Choanoflagellata), <i>Amphimedon queenslandica</i> (Porifera) and <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> (Bacteria) were used as outgroup. The <i>p</i>-distance model was used to construct the phylogenetic tree. Internal branches were assessed using 1000 bootstrap replications. Bootstrap values less than 30% are not shown.</p