Abstract
The study of the biochemical basis underlying the adaptation processes to different environments yields important information when investigating organisms living under extreme conditions. Antarctic organisms are a precious tool to investigate molecular properties acquired during adaptation to the lowest temperatures in the world. Antarctic fish are a taxonomically uniform group of teleosts, which evolved in geographic and climatic isolation and live at −1.97°C throughout the year. Because of the constant temperature of the seawater they developed a high degree of stenothermality and were defined as a paradox in being ectothermic homeotherms.1 In fact, antarctic species such as Pagothenia borchgrevinki, Trematomus bernacchii and Trematomus hansoni do not survive at temperatures of only a few degrees higher than that of the habitat.2 Due to their unique ecological characteristics, antarctic fish show unusual features. One of the most significant evolutionary trends is the decrease in erythrocyte number and hemoglobin concentration in their blood,3,4 possibly reaching the extreme stage in the hemoglobin-less family Channichthyidae (icefish),5 whose blood is virtually devoid of erythrocytes.
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© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Ciardiello, M.A., Camardella, L., di Prisco, G. (1999). Temperature adaptation in enzymes of antarctic fish. In: Margesin, R., Schinner, F. (eds) Cold-Adapted Organisms. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06285-2_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06285-2_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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