Gill Lauren T, Udaka Hiroko, Marshall Katie E
Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Division of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2025 May;211(3):247-259. doi: 10.1007/s00359-025-01730-z. Epub 2025 Jan 11.
Terrestrial molluscs living in temperate and polar environments must contend with cold winter temperatures. However, the physiological mechanisms underlying the survival of terrestrial molluscs in cold environments and the strategies employed by them are poorly understood. Here we investigated the cold tolerance of Ambigolimax valentianus, an invasive, terrestrial slug that has established populations in Japan, Canada, and Europe. To do this, we acclimated A. valentianus to different environmental conditions (differing day lengths and temperatures), then exposed them to sub-zero temperatures and measured overall survival. Then, we measured low molecular weight metabolites using H NMR to see if they play a role in their cold tolerance as they do in other invertebrate species. We found that A. valentianus is not strongly freeze tolerant but does become more cold-hardy after acclimation to shorter day lengths. We also found that no metabolites were strongly upregulated in response to winter conditions despite the change in cold hardiness, and instead saw evidence of metabolic suppression leading up to winter such as formate and L-glutamine being suppressed in winter conditions.
生活在温带和极地环境中的陆生软体动物必须应对寒冷的冬季气温。然而，人们对陆生软体动物在寒冷环境中生存的生理机制以及它们所采用的策略了解甚少。在这里，我们研究了 Valentianus 蛞蝓的耐寒性，这是一种入侵性陆生蛞蝓，已在日本、加拿大和欧洲建立了种群。为此，我们将 Valentianus 蛞蝓驯化到不同的环境条件（不同的日照长度和温度），然后将它们暴露在零下温度下并测量总体存活率。然后，我们使用核磁共振氢谱测量低分子量代谢物，以查看它们是否像在其他无脊椎动物物种中那样在耐寒性中发挥作用。我们发现 Valentianus 蛞蝓的耐冻性不强，但在适应较短日照长度后确实变得更耐寒。我们还发现，尽管抗寒性发生了变化，但没有代谢物因冬季条件而强烈上调，相反，我们看到了冬季来临前代谢抑制的证据，例如在冬季条件下甲酸和 L-谷氨酰胺受到抑制。
