`Futile cycle' enzymes in the flight muscles of North American bumblebees

2004/01/27 by James F. Staples, Erin L. Koen, Terence M. Laverty · 11 citations
Environmental Science · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Physiological and biochemical adaptations #Plant and animal studies #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior

paper · doi:10.1242/jeb.00825

Abstract

In the flight muscles of European bumblebees, high activities of fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FbPase) relative to phosphofructokinase (PFK) have suggested a thermogenic 'futile cycle' important for regional endothermy. We find generally low activities of FbPase (0.7-19.7 units g(-1) thorax) in North American Bombus species, with the exception of Bombus rufocinctus, where activity (43.1 units g(-1) thorax) is comparable with that of European congeners. These data, taken with estimates of maximal rates of heat production by cycling, do not support a significant thermogenic role for the PFK/FbPase cycle. In agreement with earlier studies, both PFK and FbPase activities were found to scale allometrically with body size (allometric exponents -0.18 and -1.33, respectively). The cycle may serve to supplement thermogenesis or amplify glycolytic flux in rest-to-flight transitions, especially in smaller bees.

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