Cold-blooded animals keep their protein-making machinery running smoothly

Kristina Servant

Animals have evolved to occupy almost all corners of the Earth. To survive, no matter the weather outside, the chemical reactions that run their bodies must adjust to the temperature. This is easy for warm-blooded animals like humans, because we have the ability to maintain our body temperature.

But cold-blooded animals can’t do that. When the weather changes and the mercury swings, their cells get exposed to that change in temperature. Yet cold blooded animals survive just fine. Michael Welte, associate professor of biology at the University of Rochester, may have just discovered one way such animals compensate. His team’s findings have been published in the Journal of Cell Biology.

One key to an organism’s survival at any temperature is to ensure that proteins are being made at the right time and in the right amount. But making proteins requires chemical reactions, and those reactions are sensitive to temperature.