Is the Membrane the Primary Target in the Biological Perception of Temperature? Effect of Membrane Physical State on the Expression of Stress-Defence Genes

  • László Vigh
  • Dmitry A. Los
  • Norio Murata
  • Attila Glatz
  • Eszter Kovács
  • Ibolya Horváth
Chapter

Abstract

Biological organisms are capable of perceiving environmental changes caused by a variety of agents. But whereas sensors of light (rhodopsins in animals or phytochromes in plants) are well-characterized, no knowledge is available concerning the thermal sensors. The only clue hitherto known about the thermal perception is that temperature decrease would result in a reduction of molecular motion in membranes, which is attained mainly via specific desaturation of fatty acids of membrane lipids [1]. It is assumed, that the response of systems to temperature stress via physiological, morphological and biochemical adjustments aimed at offset or compensate for the temperature-induced disturbances. Amongst the many compensatory responses, it seems that the major adjustment is the reorganization of the physical state of the cellular membranes, a phenomenon called “homeoviscous adaptation”.

Keywords

Thermal Sensor Desaturase Gene Thermal Perception desA Gene Homogeneous Hydrogenation 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1995

Authors and Affiliations

  • László Vigh
  • Dmitry A. Los
    • 2
  • Norio Murata
    • 2
  • Attila Glatz
    • 1
  • Eszter Kovács
    • 1
  • Ibolya Horváth
    • 1
  1. 1.Biological Research CenterInstitute of BiochemistrySzegedHungary
  2. 2.National Institute for Basic BiologyMyodaiji, Okazaki 444Japan

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