Metabolic regulation and gene expression during aestivation.

Abstract

The biochemical regulation of aestivation, a state of aerobic hypometabolism, achieves actions including strong overall suppression of metabolic rate, reprioritization of energy use by diverse cell functions, and enhancement of defenses such as protein chaperones and antioxidants that aid long-term life extension. This is accomplished by mechanisms that include differential action of intracellular signaling cascades, reversible protein phosphorylation to alter the activity states of multiple enzymes and functional proteins, global suppression of transcription and translation, and selective gene upregulation. Recent advances in understanding the regulation of aestivation are discussed with a particular emphasis on land snail and anuran models.