How insects survive the cold: molecular mechanisms - a review

Clark, Melody S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3442-3824; Worland, M. Roger. 2008 How insects survive the cold: molecular mechanisms - a review. Journal of Comparative Physiology B, 178 (8). 917-933. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-008-0286-4

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00360-008-0286-4

Abstract/Summary

Insects vary considerably in their ability to survive low temperatures. The tractability of these organisms to experimentation has lead to considerable physiology-based work investigating both the variability between species and the actual mechanisms themselves. This has highlighted a range of strategies including freeze tolerance, freeze avoidance, protective dehydration and rapid cold hardening, which are often associated with the production of specific chemicals such as antifreezes and polyol cryoprotectants. But we are still far from identifying the critical elements behind over-wintering success and how some species can regularly survive temperatures below -20°C. Molecular biology is the most recent tool to be added to the insect physiologist’s armoury. With the public availability of the genome sequence of model insects such as Drosophila and the production of custom-made molecular resources, such as EST libraries and microarrays, we are now in a position to start dissecting the molecular mechanisms behind some of these well-characterised physiological responses. This review aims to provide a state of the art snapshot of the molecular work currently being conducted into insect cold tolerance and the very interesting preliminary results from such studies, which provide great promise for the future.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-008-0286-4
Programmes:	BAS Programmes > Global Science in the Antarctic Context (2005-2009) > Biodiversity, Functions, Limits and Adaptation from Molecules to Ecosystems
ISSN:	0174-1578
Additional Keywords:	ESTs, Microarray, Proteomics, Stress, Cryoprotection
NORA Subject Terms:	Zoology Biology and Microbiology
Date made live:	06 Apr 2009 15:51 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/4230

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-008-0286-4

Programmes:

BAS Programmes > Global Science in the Antarctic Context (2005-2009) > Biodiversity, Functions, Limits and Adaptation from Molecules to Ecosystems

ISSN:

0174-1578

Additional Keywords:

ESTs, Microarray, Proteomics, Stress, Cryoprotection

NORA Subject Terms:

Zoology
Biology and Microbiology