The Ross Sea and its rich life: research on molecular adaptive evolution of stenothermal and eurythermal Antarctic organisms and the Italian contribution

Structural and functional properties of Antarctic fish cytoglobins-1: Cold-reactivity in multi-ligand reactions

“…Antarctic fish belonging to the suborder of Notothenioidei are excellent models, within vertebrates, to study the biological responses to low temperature [28] , [37] , [65] . Notothenioidei are teleosts largely endemic to the Southern Ocean where the temperatures on the shelf are constant, ranging from −1.9 to −1.7 °C throughout the water column [29] .…”

“…Due to low temperature, the reduced thermal energy and the increased viscosity of water slow down all reaction rates, and may impact protein dynamics. Over the course of many million years, notothenioids developed many physiological and biochemical features in response to low temperature, proteins being the main target of adaptation mechanisms [28] . In this context, a thorough comparison of the functional and structural properties of cold-adapted Cygbs-1 vs CYGB may help us gain insight into the evolutionary adaptations of O 2 transport processes and protein-mediated ligand reactivity.…”