Mitochondrial proliferation in the permanent vs. temporary cold: enzyme activities and mRNA levels in Antarctic and temperate zoarcid fish.

Adjustments in mitochondrial properties and capacities are crucial in acclimatization to seasonal cold and in evolutionary cold adaptation of marine ectotherms. Although long-term compensatory increments in aerobic capacity of fish tissues have frequently been described in response to cold, much less is known about transitional phases and gene expression patterns involved. We investigated the time course of adjustment to acute cold in liver of eurythermal eelpout Zoarces viviparus. Whereas citrate synthase (CS) activity rose progressively in liver, cytochrome c oxidase (COX) activity was not altered during cold acclimation. Species-specific RNA probes were used to determine mRNA levels. CS mRNA (nuclear encoded) displayed a delayed, transient increase in response to cold, such that transcript levels did not parallel the change in enzyme activity. The enzyme activities and mRNA levels in the confamilial Antarctic Pachycara brachycephalum indicate cold compensation of CS activity in this cold-adapted species. The ratio of CS and COX activities was elevated in acclimation and adaptation to cold, indicating enhanced citrate synthesis over respiratory chain capacities in cold-adapted liver mitochondria. This may support enhanced lipid synthesis typically found in cold. The ratio of enzyme activity and transcript levels differed largely between Z. viviparus populations from the Baltic and North Seas, indicating the influence of unidentified parameters other than temperature. Transcript levels may not be tightly correlated with enzyme activities during thermal adaptation and thereafter. The time course of the acclimation process indicates that regulation at the translational and posttranslational levels predominates in adjustment to moderate thermal challenges.