Specialized metabolism and biochemical suppression during aestivation of the extant South American lungfish --<FONT FACE=Symbol></FONT>Lepidosiren paradoxa

Lepidosiren paradoxa (pirambóia) is the single representative of Dipnoan (lungfish) in South America. This species is considered a living fossil, in spite of some reports describing this fish as having a very specialized life style. It aestivates during the dry season, and has developed metabolic ad...

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Main Authors: L. S. B. MESQUITA-SAAD, M. A. B. LEITÃO, M. N. PAULA-SILVA, A. R. CHIPPARI-GOMES, V. M. F. ALMEIDA-VAL
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Instituto Internacional de Ecologia
Series:Brazilian Journal of Biology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-69842002000300014&lng=en&tlng=en
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author L. S. B. MESQUITA-SAAD
M. A. B. LEITÃO
M. N. PAULA-SILVA
A. R. CHIPPARI-GOMES
V. M. F. ALMEIDA-VAL
author_facet L. S. B. MESQUITA-SAAD
M. A. B. LEITÃO
M. N. PAULA-SILVA
A. R. CHIPPARI-GOMES
V. M. F. ALMEIDA-VAL
author_sort L. S. B. MESQUITA-SAAD
collection DOAJ
description Lepidosiren paradoxa (pirambóia) is the single representative of Dipnoan (lungfish) in South America. This species is considered a living fossil, in spite of some reports describing this fish as having a very specialized life style. It aestivates during the dry season, and has developed metabolic adaptations to cope with both flooding and drought. The literature describing its tissue ultra-structure shows high glycogen stored in the muscle, suggesting a strong dependence on anaerobic glycolysis. The present paper reports tissue enzyme levels of LDH, MDH, and CS, and isozymic tissue distribution of LDH, MDH, ADH, PGI, SOD, and PGM of 7 aestivating specimens from Lago do Canteiro in the Amazonas River. Animals were caught while burrowed in mud during the aestivation period. Our findings reveal high anaerobic capacity of both skeletal and heart muscles, even during the aestivation period, when enzymes showed suppressed levels compared to those of non-aestivating animals (data from the literature). Isozymic patterns suggest loss of duplicate condition in most analyzed loci, a characteristic that occurs mainly in higher vertebrate categories. These data indicate that, compared to the fish group, lungfish may be considered advanced, despite retaining primitive morphological characters.
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spelling doaj.art-7eb9130ea5f34f08b0238ede8baa8c782022-12-22T00:49:21ZengInstituto Internacional de EcologiaBrazilian Journal of Biology1678-437562349550110.1590/S1519-69842002000300014S1519-69842002000300014Specialized metabolism and biochemical suppression during aestivation of the extant South American lungfish --<FONT FACE=Symbol></FONT>Lepidosiren paradoxaL. S. B. MESQUITA-SAAD0M. A. B. LEITÃO1M. N. PAULA-SILVA2A. R. CHIPPARI-GOMES3V. M. F. ALMEIDA-VAL4Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da AmazôniaInstituto Nacional de Pesquisas da AmazôniaInstituto Nacional de Pesquisas da AmazôniaInstituto Nacional de Pesquisas da AmazôniaInstituto Nacional de Pesquisas da AmazôniaLepidosiren paradoxa (pirambóia) is the single representative of Dipnoan (lungfish) in South America. This species is considered a living fossil, in spite of some reports describing this fish as having a very specialized life style. It aestivates during the dry season, and has developed metabolic adaptations to cope with both flooding and drought. The literature describing its tissue ultra-structure shows high glycogen stored in the muscle, suggesting a strong dependence on anaerobic glycolysis. The present paper reports tissue enzyme levels of LDH, MDH, and CS, and isozymic tissue distribution of LDH, MDH, ADH, PGI, SOD, and PGM of 7 aestivating specimens from Lago do Canteiro in the Amazonas River. Animals were caught while burrowed in mud during the aestivation period. Our findings reveal high anaerobic capacity of both skeletal and heart muscles, even during the aestivation period, when enzymes showed suppressed levels compared to those of non-aestivating animals (data from the literature). Isozymic patterns suggest loss of duplicate condition in most analyzed loci, a characteristic that occurs mainly in higher vertebrate categories. These data indicate that, compared to the fish group, lungfish may be considered advanced, despite retaining primitive morphological characters.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-69842002000300014&lng=en&tlng=enlungfishLepidosiren paradoxametabolismenzymesisozymes
spellingShingle L. S. B. MESQUITA-SAAD
M. A. B. LEITÃO
M. N. PAULA-SILVA
A. R. CHIPPARI-GOMES
V. M. F. ALMEIDA-VAL
Specialized metabolism and biochemical suppression during aestivation of the extant South American lungfish --<FONT FACE=Symbol></FONT>Lepidosiren paradoxa
Brazilian Journal of Biology
lungfish
Lepidosiren paradoxa
metabolism
enzymes
isozymes
title Specialized metabolism and biochemical suppression during aestivation of the extant South American lungfish --<FONT FACE=Symbol></FONT>Lepidosiren paradoxa
title_full Specialized metabolism and biochemical suppression during aestivation of the extant South American lungfish --<FONT FACE=Symbol></FONT>Lepidosiren paradoxa
title_fullStr Specialized metabolism and biochemical suppression during aestivation of the extant South American lungfish --<FONT FACE=Symbol></FONT>Lepidosiren paradoxa
title_full_unstemmed Specialized metabolism and biochemical suppression during aestivation of the extant South American lungfish --<FONT FACE=Symbol></FONT>Lepidosiren paradoxa
title_short Specialized metabolism and biochemical suppression during aestivation of the extant South American lungfish --<FONT FACE=Symbol></FONT>Lepidosiren paradoxa
title_sort specialized metabolism and biochemical suppression during aestivation of the extant south american lungfish font face symbol font lepidosiren paradoxa
topic lungfish
Lepidosiren paradoxa
metabolism
enzymes
isozymes
url http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-69842002000300014&lng=en&tlng=en
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