Pitfalls in insect cryoprotectant functional studies: A case study of myo-inositol in Drosopila lummei

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60077344%3A_____%2F25%3A00637828" target="_blank" >RIV/60077344:_____/25:00637828 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/68378050:_____/25:00637828

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022191025001180?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" >https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022191025001180?via%3Dihub</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2025.104864" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.jinsphys.2025.104864</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Pitfalls in insect cryoprotectant functional studies: A case study of myo-inositol in Drosopila lummei

Original language description

The correlation between the accumulation of a potentially cryoprotective substance and the increase in cold hardiness has been documented in many cold-acclimated insects. Nevertheless, the literature offers scant direct evidence for the cryoprotective function of the accumulated substances. Here, we sought to obtain direct evidence of non-colligative cryoprotective function of myo-inositol in adults of boreal fly, Drosophila lummei. The diapause flies accumulated myo-inositol in concentration of up to 500 mmol·kg−1 fresh mass during several weeks of gradual cold acclimation simulating winter onset. Concurrently, their cold hardiness, measured by five different metrics, substantially increased. We found that the primary source of myo-inositol is glycogen breakdown to glucose units, followed by their subsequent conversion through the activity of myo-inositol phosphate synthase, which is encoded by the Inos gene. The relative expression of Inos increased 86-fold during cold acclimation. We successfully augmented the levels of myo-inositol in the bodies of pre-acclimated flies, achieving levels comparable to those attained through cold acclimation. However, the study demonstrated that both methods of exogenous myo-inositol delivery (microinjection into the hemolymph and feeding enriched diets) were unsuccessful in achieving proper tissue localization of myo-inositol, which naturally accumulates primarily in the thoracic flight muscles and CNS. At the same time, the artificial increase in myo-inositol concentration did not affect any of the five measured cold hardiness metrics. We conclude by discussing various pitfalls of functional studies of insect cryoprotectants and identify ways to overcome them.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10602 - Biology (theoretical, mathematical, thermal, cryobiology, biological rhythm), Evolutionary biology

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA23-06518S" target="_blank" >GA23-06518S: Diversity and physiological roles of small cryoprotective molecules in drosophilid flies: focusing on mitochondrial membranes.</a><br>

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Journal of Insect Physiology

ISSN

0022-1910

e-ISSN

1879-1611

Volume of the periodical

165

Issue of the periodical within the volume

SEP 01

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

15

Pages from-to

104864

UT code for WoS article

001544810700002

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105012182507