Authors: Jin Seo; Rachael Winfrey; Alexander Jochmans; Eunji Yoon
Affiliation: Rogers State University
Keywords: b. metabolism; f. Insulin signaling
Temperature profoundly affects all living organisms on development, growth, longevity, and metabolism. Ambient temperature significantly alters lipid/ carbohydrate storages in fruit flies; conversely, food intake alters flies’ preferred temperature. The natural thermal range of fruit flies is between 13 and 33 oC. When adult flies are incubated at a higher natural thermal temperature, body fat contents are strikingly reduced. Remarkably, fat loss does not appear to be due to decreased food intake and/or increased metabolic rate suggesting that temperature-mediated fat storage is regulated through active mechanisms rather than passive processes. The rates of biochemical reactions show a bell curve pattern in which the reaction rates increase up until the optimum temperature (Topt) and drop sharply beyond the Topt. To better understand mechanisms of temperature-mediated energy storage and identify thermosensing molecules, we have investigated enzyme activities in multiple signaling pathways, which are linked to lipid/carbohydrate metabolism, at suboptimum temperatures.