Variation in the link between oxygen consumption and ATP production, and its relevance for animal performance

Type Article
Date 2015-08
Language English
Author(s) Salin KarineORCID1, Auer Sonya K.1, Rey Benjamin2, 3, Selman ColinORCID1, Metcalfe Neil B.1
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ Glasgow, Coll Med Vet & Life Sci, Inst Biodivers Anim Hlth & Comparat Med, Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland.
2 : Univ Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5558, Lab Biometrie & Biol Evolut, F-69365 Lyon, France.
3 : Univ Witwatersrand, Fac Hlth Sci, Sch Physiol, Brain Funct Res Grp, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Source Proceedings Of The Royal Society B-biological Sciences (0962-8452) (Royal Soc), 2015-08 , Vol. 282 , N. 1812 , P. 14-22
DOI 10.1098/rspb.2015.1028
WOS© Times Cited 173
Keyword(s) mitochondrial coupling efficiency, life history, oxidative stress, reactive oxygen species, trade-off, uncoupling
Abstract It is often assumed that an animal's metabolic rate can be estimated through measuring the whole-organism oxygen consumption rate. However, oxygen consumption alone is unlikely to be a sufficient marker of energy metabolism in many situations. This is due to the inherent variability in the link between oxidation and phosphorylation; that is, the amount of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) generated per molecule of oxygen consumed by mitochondria (P/O ratio). In this article, we describe how the P/O ratio can vary within and among individuals, and in response to a number of environmental parameters, including diet and temperature. As the P/O ratio affects the efficiency of cellular energy production, its variability may have significant consequences for animal performance, such as growth rate and reproductive output. We explore the adaptive significance of such variability and hypothesize that while a reduction in the P/O ratio is energetically costly, it may be associated with advantages in terms of somatic maintenance through reduced production of reactive oxygen species. Finally, we discuss how considering variation in mitochondrial efficiency, together with whole-organism oxygen consumption, can permit a better understanding of the relationship between energy metabolism and life history for studies in evolutionary ecology.
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Salin Karine, Auer Sonya K., Rey Benjamin, Selman Colin, Metcalfe Neil B. (2015). Variation in the link between oxygen consumption and ATP production, and its relevance for animal performance. Proceedings Of The Royal Society B-biological Sciences, 282(1812), 14-22. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.1028 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00414/52509/