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COMPARATIVE AND EVOLUTIONARY PHYSIOLOGY

Energetic cost of synthesizing proteins in Antarctic limpet, Nacella concinna (Strebel, 1908), is not temperature dependent

British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Submitted 25 May 2006 ; accepted in final form 15 February 2007

The energetic cost of protein synthesis is thought to account for a significant proportion of total metabolism. However, attempts to estimate the energetic cost of synthesizing proteins have resulted in surprisingly variable results, particularly for the small number of polar organisms studied, where cost estimates vary by two orders of magnitude. Much of this variability is probably the result of differing methodologies and experimental designs. Here we have used two different, carefully validated methods to measure the costs of protein synthesis in Antarctic limpets. One method, which utilized a specific protein synthesis inhibitor, was used to measure the cost of protein synthesis at two temperatures to test the hypothesis that the cost of protein synthesis varies with temperature. The cost of protein synthesis measured using the inhibitor cycloheximide was 13.95 ± 0.77 µmol O₂/mg protein, while correlation of absolute protein synthesis with oxygen consumption suggested the cost of protein synthesis was 19.58 µmol O₂/mg protein. Water temperature did not alter the cost of protein synthesis in Nacella concinna (Student's t-test, P = 0.849, t = 0.19, df = 12). In a meta-analysis of literature values for the cost of protein synthesis there was no significant effect of temperature, but there was a significant relationship between the concentration of cycloheximide used to inhibit protein synthesis and the measured cost.

protein metabolism; cycloheximide; polar; growth