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First published online September 9, 2005
Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 3603-3607 (2005)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2005
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01778

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Roles of hierarchical and metabolic regulation in the allometric scaling of metabolism in Panamanian orchid bees

Raul K. Suarez^1,3,*, Charles-A. Darveau^2,3 and Peter W. Hochachka^2,

¹ Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9610, USA
² Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4
³ Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Barro Colorado Island, Republic of Panama

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: suarez{at}lifesci.ucsb.edu)

Accepted 6 July 2005

Assessment of the relative importance of variation in enzyme concentration [E] and metabolic regulation in accounting for interspecific variation in metabolic rates is an unrealized area of research. Towards this end, we used metabolic flux rates during hovering and enzymatic flux capacities (V_max values, equal to [E]xk_cat, where k_cat is catalytic efficiency) in flight muscles measured in vitro from 14 orchid bee species ranging in body mass from 47 to 1065 mg. Previous studies revealed that, across orchid bee species, wingbeat frequencies and metabolic rates decline in parallel with increasing body mass. V_max values at some enzymatic steps in pathways of energy metabolism decline with increasing mass while, at most other steps, V_max values are mass-independent. We quantified the relative importance of `hierarchical regulation' (alteration in V<sub>max</sub>, indicative of alteration in [E]) and `metabolic regulation' (resulting from variation in substrate, product or modulator concentrations) in accounting for interspecific variation in flux across species. In addition, we applied the method of phylogenetically independent contrasts to remove the potentially confounding effects of phylogenetic relationships among species. In the evolution of orchid bees, hierarchical regulation completely accounts for allometric variation in flux rates at the hexokinase step while, at other reactions, variation in flux is completely accounted for by metabolic regulation. The predominant role played by metabolic regulation is examined at the phosphoglucoisomerase step using the Haldane relationship. We find that extremely small variation in the concentration ratio of [product]/[substrate] is enough to cause the observed interspecific variation in net flux at this reaction in glycolysis.

Key words: allometry, metabolism, glycolysis, hovering flight, metabolic scaling, orchid bee

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