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Updated: Aug 16, 2025

Measurements of Physiological Stress Responses in C. Elegans
Published on: May 21, 2020
The Glacier Ice Worm, Mesenchytraeus solifugus, Elevates Mitochondrial Inorganic Polyphosphate (PolyP) Levels in
Teresa Osorio1, Ernest R Scoma1, Daniel H Shain1
1Department of Biology and CCIB, College of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University, 201 Broadway, Camden, NJ 08103, USA.
Abstract:
The inorganic polymer, polyphosphate (polyP), is present in all organisms examined to date with putative functions ranging from the maintenance of bioenergetics to stress resilience and protein homeostasis. Bioenergetics in the glacier-obligate, segmented worm, Mesenchytraeus solifugus, is characterized by a paradoxical increase in intracellular ATP levels as temperatures decline. We show here that steady-state, mitochondrial polyP levels vary among species of Annelida, but were elevated only in M. solifugus in response to thermal stress. In contrast, polyP levels decreased with temperature in the mesophilic worm, Enchytraeus crypticus. These results identify fundamentally different bioenergetic strategies between closely related annelid worms, and suggest that I worm mitochondria maintain ATP and polyP in a dynamic equilibrium.
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