当前位置： SCI文献检索 > BMC EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY期刊下所有文献 > From low to high latitudes: changes in fatty acid desaturation in mammalian fat tissue suggest a thermoregulatory role.

From low to high latitudes: changes in fatty acid desaturation in mammalian fat tissue suggest a thermoregulatory role.

Abstract：

BACKGROUND:Most fatty acids (FAs) making up the adipose tissue in mammals have a dietary origin and suffer little modification when they are stored. However, we propose that some of those FAs, specifically those that can be synthesised or modified by mammals, are also being influenced by thermal forces and used as part of the mechanism to regulate core body temperature. As FA desaturation increases, adipose tissues can reach colder temperatures without solidifying. The ability to cool the superficial fat tissues helps create a thermal gradient, which contributes to body heat loss reduction. Therefore, it is expected that animals exposed to colder environments will possess adipose tissues with higher proportions of desaturated FAs. Here, through a model selection approach that accounts for phylogeny, we investigate how the variation in FA desaturation in 54 mammalian species relates to the thermal proxies: latitude, physical environment (terrestrial, semi-aquatic and fully-aquatic) and hair density. RESULTS:The interaction between the environment (terrestrial, semi- or fully-aquatic) and the latitude in which the animals lived explained best the variation of FA desaturation in mammals. Aquatic mammals had higher FA desaturation compared to terrestrial mammals. Semi-aquatic mammals had significantly higher levels of desaturated FAs when living in higher latitudes whereas terrestrial and fully-aquatic mammals did not. To account for dietary influence, a double bond index was calculated including all FAs, and revealed no correlation with latitude in any of the groups. CONCLUSIONS:We propose that FA modification is an important component of the thermoregulatory strategy, particularly in semi-aquatic mammals. Potentially this is because, like terrestrial mammals, they experience the greatest air temperature variations across latitudes, but they lack a thick fur coat and rely primarily on their blubber. Unlike fully-aquatic mammals, extremely thick blubber is not ideal for semi-aquatic mammals, as this is detrimental to their manoeuvrability on land. Therefore, the adipose tissue in semi-aquatic mammals plays a more important role in keeping warm, and the modification of FAs becomes crucial to withstand cold temperatures and maintain a pliable blubber.

journal_name

BMC Evol Biol

journal_title

BMC evolutionary biology

authors

Guerrero AI,Rogers TL

doi

10.1186/s12862-019-1473-5

subject

Has Abstract

pub_date

2019-07-26 00:00:00

pages

155

issue

issn

1471-2148

pii

10.1186/s12862-019-1473-5

journal_volume

pub_type

杂志文章

在线工具

From low to high latitudes: changes in fatty acid desaturation in mammalian fat tissue suggest a thermoregulatory role.