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Journal of Experimental Biology 159,473-487 (1991)
Published by Company of Biologists 1991

Pressure and Temperature Adaptation of Cytosolic Malate Dehydrogenases of Shallowand Deep-Living Marine Invertebrates: Evidence for High Body Temperatures in Hydrothermal Vent Animals

ELIZABETH DAHLHOFF ¹ and GEORGE N. SOMERO ¹

¹ Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0202, USA

Effects of temperature and hydrostatic pressure were measured on cytosolic malate dehydrogenases (cMDHs) from muscle tissue of a variety of shallow- and deep-living benthic marine invertebrates, including seven species endemic to the deep-sea hydrothermal vents. The apparent Michaelis-Menten constant (K_m) of coenzyme (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, NADH), used to index temperature and pressure effects, was conserved within a narrow range (approximately 15–25 µmoll^-1) at physiological temperatures and pressures for all species. However, at elevated pressures, the K_m of NADH rose sharply for cMDHs of shallow species (depths of occurrence >Approximately 500 m), but not for the cMDHs of deep-sea species. Cytosolic MDHs of invertebrates from the deep-sea hydrothermal vents generally were not perturbed by elevated temperatures (15–25°C) at in situ pressures, but cMDHs of cold-adapted deep-sea species were. At a single measurement temperature, the K_m of NADH for cMDHs from invertebrates from habitats with well-characterized temperatures was inversely related to maximal sustained body temperature. This correlation was used to predict the maximal sustained body temperatures of vent invertebrates for which maximal habitat and body temperatures are difficult to estimate. Species occurring on the ‘smoker chimneys’, which emit waters with temperatures up to 380°C, are predicted to have sustained body temperatures that are approximately 20–25°C higher than vent species living in cooler vent microhabitats. We conclude that, just as adaptation of enzymes to elevated pressures is important in establishing species' depth distribution patterns, adaptation of pressure-adapted enzymes to temperature is critical in enabling certain vent species to exploit warm-water microhabitats in the vent environment.

Key words: malate dehydrogenase, hydrostatic pressure, hydrothermal vents

Accepted on May 30, 1991

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