Inadequate food intake at high temperatures is related to depressed mitochondrial respiratory capacity

Type Article
Date 2016-05
Language English
Author(s) Salin KarineORCID1, Auer Sonya K.1, Anderson Graeme J.1, Selman ColinORCID1, Metcalfe Neil B.1
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ Glasgow, Inst Biodivers Anim Hlth & Comparat Med, Graham Kerr Bldg, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Lanark, Scotland.
Source Journal Of Experimental Biology (0022-0949) (Company Of Biologists Ltd), 2016-05 , Vol. 219 , N. 9 , P. 1356-1362
DOI 10.1242/jeb.133025
WOS© Times Cited 37
Keyword(s) Ecophysiology, Food intake, Global warming, Proton leak, Respiratory control ratio, Respiration rate
Abstract Animals, especially ectotherms, are highly sensitive to the temperature of their surrounding environment. Extremely high temperature, for example, induces a decline of average performance of conspecifics within a population, but individual heterogeneity in the ability to cope with elevating temperatures has rarely been studied. Here, we examined inter-individual variation in feeding ability and consequent growth rate of juvenile brown trout Salmo trutta acclimated to a high temperature (19 degrees C), and investigated the relationship between these metrics of whole-animal performances and among-individual variation in mitochondrial respiration capacity. Food was provided ad libitum, yet intake varied ten-fold amongst individuals, resulting in some fish losing weight whilst others continued to grow. Almost half of the variation in food intake was related to variability in mitochondrial capacity: low intake (and hence growth failure) was associated with high leak respiration rates within liver and muscle mitochondria, and a lower coupling of muscle mitochondria. These observations, combined with the inability of fish with low food consumption to increase their intake despite ad libitum food levels, suggest a possible insufficient capacity of the mitochondria for maintaining ATP homeostasis. Individual variation in thermal performance is likely to confer variation in the upper limit of an organism's thermal niche and might affect the structure of wild populations in warming environments.
Full Text
File Pages Size Access
Publisher's official version + SI 10 606 KB Open access
Top of the page

How to cite 

Salin Karine, Auer Sonya K., Anderson Graeme J., Selman Colin, Metcalfe Neil B. (2016). Inadequate food intake at high temperatures is related to depressed mitochondrial respiratory capacity. Journal Of Experimental Biology, 219(9), 1356-1362. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.133025 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00414/52501/