Journal
JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY
Volume 55, Issue 3, Pages 243-249Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2008.11.015
Keywords
Rapid cold-hardening; Chill tolerance; Cold selection; Phospholipid composition; Fatty acids
Categories
Funding
- NSERC Discovery
- Canada Foundation
- Ontario Research Fund
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Insect cold tolerance varies at both the population and species levels. Carbohydrate cryoprotectants and membrane remodeling are two main mechanisms hypothesised to increase chilling tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster, as part of both long-term (i.e., evolutionary) change and rapid cold-hardening (RCH). We used cold-selected lines of D. melanogaster with and without a pre-exposure that induces RCH to test three hypotheses: (1) that increased cold tolerance would be associated with increased free glucose; (2) that increased cold tolerance would be associated with desaturation of membrane phospholipid fatty acids: and (3) that increased cold tolerance would be associated with a change in phospholipid head group composition. We used colourimetric assays to measure free glucose and a combination of thin layer chromatography-flame ionization detection and gas chromatography to measure membrane composition. We observed a consistent decrease in free glucose with RCH, and no relationship between free glucose and basal cold tolerance. Also, phospholipid head group ratios and fatty acid composition showed no change following an RCH treatment. Thus, we conclude that changes in free glucose and membrane composition are unlikely to be significant determinants of variation in cold tolerance of D. melanogaster. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available