Protein Turnover in Ectotherms and Its Relationships to Energetics

Abstract

The regulation of the rate of synthesis of tissue proteins is of the utmost importance to the energetic cost of the maintenance and growth of the whole animal. After water, protein is the largest component of the body mass and minimal theoretical estimates of the cost of synthesising proteins indicate that they represent the most expensive molecules to produce (e.g. Kiorboe et al. 1987; Jorgensen 1988). Studies on mammals have indicated that whole body protein metabolism is closely correlated with basal energy metabolism (Garlick et al. 1976; Waterlow 1980; Meier et al. 1981), and the indications are that similar correlations exist for ectotherms (Hawkins et al. 1989). The aim of this chapter is to review the data which have recently become available on the rates of protein synthesis in ectotherms and attempt to integrate them with the likely energy cost of synthesising these proteins