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Journal of Experimental Biology 147,375-391 (1989)
Published by Company of Biologists 1989

Diurnal Variation in Membrane Lipid Composition of Sonoran Desert Teleosts

CYNTHIA CAREY ¹ and JEFFREY R. HAZEL ¹

¹ Department of Evolutionary, Population and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 and Department of Zoology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA

Phospholipid molecular species and headgroup compositions were determined for sarcoplasmic reticular and microsomal membranes in two species of Sonoran desert cyprinid fish (Agosia chrysogaster Girard and Notropis lutrensis Girard) trapped in an isolated pool of a desert stream. Fish populations were sampled in the cool of the morning (water temperature 21–21.9°C for Agosia and 22–26°C for Notropis) and 7–11 h later in the heat of the afternoon (water temperature 34.2°C) to determine whether membrane lipid composition varied with sampling time and thermal exposure. The composition of sarcoplasmic reticular membranes did not vary significantly through the day. In contrast, the molecular species composition of muscle microsomes (a mixture of endoplasmic reticulum and plasma membranes) changed markedly from the cool of the morning to the heat of the afternoon in both species. Adjustments were particularly striking in phosphatidylcholine (PC). For example, in Agosia, the ratio of saturated-to-unsaturated species of PC, the unsaturation index (the average number of double bonds per molecular species) and the proportion of diunsaturated molecular species deo- eased from 7.48 to 0.77, from 1.36 to 0.35 and from 7.23% to 2.46%, respectively, between the morning and afternoon samples. Similar, but less dramatic, changes were noted for phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) in both species, and for phosphatidylinositol (PI) in Notropis. In addition, microsomal membranes of Agosia exhibited a significant reduction in the proportion of PE (from 12.1 to 2.7%) and a corresponding increase in the proportion of PC between the morning and afternoon samples. These patterns of change in membrane lipid composition are in a direction consistent with thermal compensation of membrane function and suggest that rapid adjustments in the lipid composition of biological membranes may stabilize membrane structure against substantial diurnal fluctuations in temperature.

Key words: temperature, sarcoplasmic reticulum, microsomal membranes, phospholipid opposition, phospholipid molecular species, Sonoran desert, ectotherms, homeoviscous aptation

Accepted on June 23, 1989

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