Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Originally published in Science Express on 15 February 2001
Science 9 March 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5510, pp. 1950 - 1952
DOI: 10.1126/science.1056341
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

High Macromolecular Synthesis with Low Metabolic Cost in Antarctic Sea Urchin Embryos

Adam G. Marsh,1* Robert E. Maxson Jr.,2 Donal T. Manahan1dagger

Assessing the energy costs of development in extreme environments is important for understanding how organisms can exist at the margins of the biosphere. Macromolecular turnover rates of RNA and protein were measured at -1.5°C during early development of an Antarctic sea urchin. Contrary to expectations of low synthesis with low metabolism at low temperatures, protein and RNA synthesis rates exhibited temperature compensation and were equivalent to rates in temperate sea urchin embryos. High protein metabolism with a low metabolic rate is energetically possible in this Antarctic sea urchin because the energy cost of protein turnover, 0.45 joules per milligram of protein, is 1/25th the values reported for other animals.

1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
2 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, USC/Norris Hospital Institute, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
*   Present address: College of Marine Studies, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE 19958, USA.

dagger    To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Manahan{at}usc.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Growth in the slow lane: protein metabolism in the Antarctic limpet Nacella concinna (Strebel 1908).
K. P. P. Fraser, A. Clarke, and L. S. Peck (2007)
J. Exp. Biol. 210, 2691-2699
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Energetic cost of synthesizing proteins in Antarctic limpet, Nacella concinna (Strebel, 1908), is not temperature dependent.
A. D. Bowgen, K. P. P. Fraser, L. S. Peck, and A. Clarke (2007)
Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol 292, R2266-R2274
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cost of Protein Synthesis and Energy Allocation During Development of Antarctic Sea Urchin Embryos and Larvae.
D. A. Pace and D. T. Manahan (2007)
Biol. Bull. 212, 115-129
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
DNA photorepair in echinoid embryos: effects of temperature on repair rate in Antarctic and non-Antarctic species.
M. D. Lamare, M. F. Barker, M. P. Lesser, and C. Marshall (2006)
J. Exp. Biol. 209, 5017-5028
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Fixed metabolic costs for highly variable rates of protein synthesis in sea urchin embryos and larvae.
D. A. Pace and D. T. Manahan (2006)
J. Exp. Biol. 209, 158-170
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Temperature-dependent protein synthesis capacities in Antarctic and temperate (North Sea) fish (Zoarcidae).
D. Storch, G. Lannig, and H. O. Portner (2005)
J. Exp. Biol. 208, 2409-2420
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Phenotypic Flexibility and Physiological Tradeoffs in the Feeding and Growth of Marine Bivalve Molluscs.
B. L. Bayne (2004)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 44, 425-432
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Morphogenesis and Organogenesis in the Regenerating Planktotrophic Larvae of Asteroids and Echinoids.
M. S. Vickery, M. C. L. Vickery, and J. B. McClintock (2002)
Biol. Bull. 203, 121-133
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Low-temperature protein metabolism: seasonal changes in protein synthesis and RNA dynamics in the Antarctic limpet Nacella concinna Strebel 1908.
K. P. P. Fraser, A. Clarke, and L. S. Peck (2002)
J. Exp. Biol. 205, 3077-3086
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)