Authors: Mark H Rider Nusrat Hussain Stephen M Dilworth Kenneth B Storey
Publish Date: 2009/07/05
Volume: 332, Issue: 1-2, Pages: 207-
Abstract
Longterm survival of oxygen deprivation by animals with welldeveloped anoxia tolerance depends on multiple biochemical adaptations including strong metabolic rate depression We investigated whether the AMPactivated protein kinase AMPK could play a regulatory role in the suppression of protein synthesis that occurs when turtles experience anoxic conditions AMPK activity and the phosphorylation state of ribosomal translation factors were measured in liver heart red muscle and white muscle of redeared slider turtles Trachemys scripta elegans subjected to 20 h of anoxic submergence AMPK activity increased twofold in white muscle of anoxic turtles compared with aerobic controls but remained unchanged in liver and red muscle whereas in heart AMPK activity decreased by 40 Immunoblotting with phosphospecific antibodies revealed that eukaryotic elongation factor2 phosphorylation at the inactivating Thr56 site increased six and eightfold in red and white muscles from anoxic animals respectively but was unchanged in liver and heart The phosphorylation state of the activating Thr389 site of p70 ribosomal protein S6 kinase was reduced under anoxia in red muscle and heart but was unaffected in liver and white muscle Exposure to anoxia decreased 40S ribosomal protein S6 phosphorylation in heart and promoted eukaryotic initiation factor 4Ebinding protein1 4EBP1 dephosphorylation in red muscle but surprisingly increased 4EBP1 phosphorylation in white muscle The changes in phosphorylation state of translation factors suggest that organspecific patterns of signalling and response are involved in achieving the anoxiainduced suppression of protein synthesis in turtlesThe work was supported by the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Program—Belgian Science Policy P6/28 the Directorate General Higher Education and Scientific Research French Community of Belgium the Fund for Medical Scientific Research Belgium the EXGENESIS Integrated Project LSHMCT2004005272 from the European Commission and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada grant 6793
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