Among the various physical environmental stressors, “temperature is ecologically most important, for it is a factor that is all pervasive, and in most environments, lacks spatial or temporal constancy” (Cossins and Bowler, 1987). Concomitantly, upon transfer from one temperature to another for prolonged periods, most animals can adapt physiologically and biochemically to the new environment. Th...

Polar fishes are at high risk from increasing seawater temperatures. Characterising the physiological responses to such changes may both clarify mechanisms that permit life under extreme conditions and identify limitations in the response to continued global warming. We hypothesised that Notothenia coriiceps would show physiological compensation after an acute exposure to 5°C, and following 6 w...

Bacterial adaptation to cold stress requires wide transcriptional reprogramming. However, the knowledge of molecular mechanisms underlying response mycobacteria is limited. We conducted comparative transcriptomic analysis Mycobacterium smegmatis subjected shock. The growth M. cultivated at 37oC was arrested just after exposure (acclimation phase) but later (by 24 h) resumed a much slower rate (...

The fundamental question in cold acclimation is how do plants perceive the low but nonfreezing temperatures that activate cold acclimation responses. New findings in the past year suggest that changes in membrane fluidity, cytoskeleton rearrangement, and calcium influxes are among the earliest events taking place in plants upon exposure to low nonfreezing temperatures. In the cyanobacterium Syn...

Plants are simultaneously exposed to abiotic and biotic hazards. Here, we show that local and systemic acclimation in Arabidopsis thaliana leaves in response to excess excitation energy (EEE) is associated with cell death and is regulated by specific redox changes of the plastoquinone (PQ) pool. These redox changes cause a rapid decrease of stomatal conductance, global induction of ASCORBATE PE...

The regulation of vascular resistance in fishes has largely been studied using isolated large conductance vessels, yet changes in tissue perfusion/vascular resistance are primarily mediated by the dilation/constriction of small arterioles. Thus we adapted mammalian isolated microvessel techniques for use in fish and examined how several agents affected the tone/resistance of isolated coronary a...

The ability of an organism to alter its physiology in response environmental conditions offers a short-term defense mechanism the face weather extremes resulting from climate change. These often manifest as multiple, interacting drivers, especially pH and temperature. In particular, decreased can impose constraints on biological mechanisms which define thermal limits by throwing off energetic e...

Little is known about the effect of chronic hypobaric hypoxia on the enzymes and transporters involved in lactate metabolism. We looked at the protein expression of monocarboxylate transporters MCT 1, MCT 2, and MCT 4, along with total lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and LDH isozymes in skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and liver. Expression of these components of the lactate shuttle affects the abi...

Many temperate plant species such as Arabidopsis thaliana are able to increase their freezing tolerance when exposed to low, nonfreezing temperatures in a process called cold acclimation. This process is accompanied by complex changes in gene expression. Previous studies have investigated these changes but have mainly focused on individual or small groups of genes. We present a comprehensive st...

As ecosystems undergo changes worldwide, physiological flexibility is likely to be an important adaptive response to increased climate instability. Extreme weather fluctuations impose energetical constraints such as unpredictable food shortage. We tested how grey mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus) could adjust their daily heterothermy and locomotor activity to these 'energetic accidents' with a ...