70 kDa heat shock proteins (Hsp70s) are chaperones that guide protein folding and transport. A recent study in the journal Planta found Hsp70 to be important to plant development. The study employed antibodies against anti-Psbd, anti-Psba and anti-Rubisco in order to investigate the effect of Hsp70 disruption on chloroplast development, all of which are available on antibodies-online.

Arabidopsis possesses two highly conserved proteins, cpHsc70-1 and cpHsc70-2 which are found in chloroplasts. The current study employed microRNA techniques in order to suppress levels of both Hsp70 isoforms. The chloroplasts of the plants had an unusual morphology and contain few or no tylakoid membranes. The data demonstrates the importance of the Hsp70 proteins in normal plant development.