The effect of acclimation temperature on enzyme activity in Drosophila melanogaster

1. The response to thermal acclimation of five key rate-limiting enzymes of intermediary metabolism and of six degradative enzymes was measured in tissue extracts of adult Drosophila melanogaster which had been acclimated for 4 days to 15, 25 or 30 degrees C. 2. Three enzymes of intermediary metabolism (HK, alpha-GPDH and CO) showed positive thermal compensation, which is the type of response characteristic of the enzymes involved in energy metabolism in vertebrate ectotherms. 3. The data obtained for CS and G6PDH showed no evidence for increased activity of TCA cycle nor of the pentose phosphate pathway upon cold acclimation in D. melanogaster. 4. Two degradative enzymes, ADH and non-specific esterase, showed inverse thermal compensation which is the type of response characteristic of degradative enzymes in vertebrate ectotherms. 5. In contrast to the situation in vertebrate ectotherms, catalase and the three lysosomal enzymes assayed (APH, acid DNase and acid RNase) displayed positive rather than inverse compensation. 6. The results presented here extend the data on the range of D. melanogaster enzymes which show compensation upon thermal acclimation and on the type of acclimation response which occurs.