Changes in the functional efficiency of flight muscle sarcosomes during heat death of adult Calliphora erythrocephala

✍ Scribed by T. F. Davison; K. Bowler

• Book ID: 102879982
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1971
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 818 KB
• Volume: 78
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9541
• DOI: 10.1002/jcp.1040780107

✦ Synopsis

The temperature sensitivity of flight muscle mitochondria from adult Calliphora erythrocephala has been studied. Intact flies were treated to sublethal and lethal high temperatures, their sarcosomes were isolated and the efficiency of the coupling of oxidation and phosphorylation was measured. The temperature sensitivity of sarcosomes is correlated with the heat death point of the intact animal and the impairment of oxidative phosphorylation with a-glycerophosphate suggests that a breakdown in ATP synthesis may be one of the causes of heat death. Restitution of enzyme activity was observed in mitochondria isolated from flies recovering from sublethal heat treatment. The results suggest that the impairment of membrane-enzyme complexes may be important lesions in heat death.