Life at low temperatures: is disorder the driving force?

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Titel: Life at low temperatures: is disorder the driving force?
Autoren: Feller, Georges
Quelle: Extremophiles. 11:211-216
Verlagsinformationen: Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2006.
Publikationsjahr: 2006
Schlagwörter: 0301 basic medicine, Membrane Fluidity, ligand binding, Entropy, Membrane Fluidity/physiology, Bacteria/growth & development/metabolism, Biochimie, biophysique & biologie moléculaire, 03 medical and health sciences, RNA, Transfer/metabolism, Bacterial Proteins, RNA, Transfer, psychrophiles, 0303 health sciences, RNA, Bacterial/metabolism, Bacteria, Bacterial Proteins/metabolism, stability, Life sciences, Adaptation, Physiological, proteins, 3. Good health, Fatty Acids, Unsaturated/metabolism, Cold Temperature, RNA, Bacterial, Sciences du vivant, Fatty Acids, Unsaturated, Biochemistry, biophysics & molecular biology
Beschreibung: The thermodynamic characterization of various biological systems from psychrophiles points to a larger entropic contribution when compared to the corresponding mesophilic or (hyper) thermophilic counterparts, either at the level of the macromolecules (thermodynamic and kinetic stabilities) or of their function (ligand binding, catalytic activity). It is suggested here that in an environment characterized by a low heat content (enthalpy) and at temperatures that strongly slowdown molecular motions, the cold-adapted biological systems rely on a larger disorder to maintain macromolecular dynamics and function. Such pre-eminent involvement of entropy is observed in the experimental results and, from a macroscopic point of view, is also reflected for instance by the steric hindrances introduced by cis-unsaturated and branched lipids to maintain membrane fluidity, by the loose conformation of psychrophilic proteins or by the local destabilization of tRNA by dihydrouridine in psychrophilic bacteria.
Publikationsart: Article
Sprache: English
ISSN: 1433-4909
1431-0651
DOI: 10.1007/s00792-006-0050-1
Zugangs-URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17160345
http://orbi.ulg.ac.be/handle/2268/14513
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs00792-006-0050-1.pdf
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00792-006-0050-1
https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/14513
https://hdl.handle.net/2268/14513
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-006-0050-1
Rights: Springer TDM
Dokumentencode: edsair.doi.dedup.....81ff120b9f75f2baa04b5bf52014517c
Datenbank: OpenAIRE
Beschreibung
Abstract:The thermodynamic characterization of various biological systems from psychrophiles points to a larger entropic contribution when compared to the corresponding mesophilic or (hyper) thermophilic counterparts, either at the level of the macromolecules (thermodynamic and kinetic stabilities) or of their function (ligand binding, catalytic activity). It is suggested here that in an environment characterized by a low heat content (enthalpy) and at temperatures that strongly slowdown molecular motions, the cold-adapted biological systems rely on a larger disorder to maintain macromolecular dynamics and function. Such pre-eminent involvement of entropy is observed in the experimental results and, from a macroscopic point of view, is also reflected for instance by the steric hindrances introduced by cis-unsaturated and branched lipids to maintain membrane fluidity, by the loose conformation of psychrophilic proteins or by the local destabilization of tRNA by dihydrouridine in psychrophilic bacteria.
ISSN:14334909
14310651
DOI:10.1007/s00792-006-0050-1