Prenatal Acoustic Signals Influence Nestling Heat Shock Protein Response to Heat and Heterophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio in a Desert Bird

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are essential to cellular protection against heat stress. However, the causes of inter-individual variation in HSP regulation remain unclear. This study aimed to test the impact of early-life conditions on the HSP response to heat in zebra finches. In this arid-adapted bird, incubating parents emit “heat-calls” at high temperatures, which adaptively alter offspring’s phenotypes. Embryos were exposed to heat-calls or control-calls, and at 13 days post-hatch nestlings were separated into two different experiments to test responses to either chronic nest temperature (“in-nest” experiment) or an acute “heat-challenge”. Blood samples were collected to measure levels of heat shock cognate 70, heat shock protein 90α, corticosterone and the heterophil-to-lymphocyte (H/L) ratio. In the in-nest experiment, both HSPs were upregulated in response to increasing nest temperatures only in control-calls nestlings (HSC70: p = 0.010, HSP90α: p = 0.050), which also had a marginally higher H/L ratio overall than heat-call birds (p = 0.066). These results point to a higher heat sensitivity in control-call nestlings. Furthermore, comparing across experiments, only the H/L ratio differed, being higher in heat-challenged than in in-nest nestlings (p = 0.009). Overall, this study shows for the first time that a prenatal acoustic signal of heat affects the nestling HSP response to postnatal temperature.