spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif Propose a Workshop for 2011 spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online October 5, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 4102-4114 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02484
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tomcala, A.
Right arrow Articles by Kostál, V.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Tomcala, A.
Right arrow Articles by Kostál, V.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Seasonal acquisition of chill tolerance and restructuring of membrane glycerophospholipids in an overwintering insect: triggering by low temperature, desiccation and diapause progression

A. Tomcala1,2, M. Tollarová1,2, J. Overgaard3, P. Simek1 and V. Kostál1,2,*

1 Biology Centre AS CR, Institute of Entomology, Branisovská 31, 370 05 Ceské Budejovice, Czech Republic
2 Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia, Ceské Budejovice, Czech Republic
3 Department of Terrestrial Ecology, National Environmental Research Institute, Silkeborg, Denmark

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: kostal{at}entu.cas.cz)

Accepted 10 August 2006

Adults of the insect Pyrrhocoris apterus acquire chill tolerance through the process of autumnal acclimatization. Field and laboratory experiments were conducted to separate the triggering effects of low temperatures, desiccation and diapause progression on the physiological characteristics related to chill tolerance with emphasis on the restructuring of glycerophospholipid (GPL) composition. Changes in relative proportions of major molecular species of glycerophosphoethanolamines (GPEtns) and glycerophosphocholines (GPChols) in thoracic muscle and fat body tissues were followed using HPLC coupled to electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry. The increase in relative proportion of 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleyl-sn-GPEtn at the expense of 1,2-dilinoleyl-sn-GPChol was the most prominent feature of the complex change observed in both tissues during autumnal acclimatization in the field. The relative proportion of total GPEtns increased, while the proportion of total GPChols decreased. The relative proportion of unsaturated fatty acyls slightly decreased. A similar restructuring response was seen during acclimatization in the field and cold acclimation in the laboratory. By contrast, the GPL changes related to desiccation and diapause progression were relatively small, differed qualitatively from the cold-acclimation response, and were accompanied with no increase of chill tolerance. Other features of autumnal acclimatization, i.e. depression of supercooling capacity and accumulation of polyhydric alcohols, were also triggered solely by low temperatures.

Key words: membrane phospholipids, temperature, acclimatization, cold acclimation, desiccation, diapause, cold tolerance, ectotherm, Insecta, Heteroptera


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2006