Adaptation of fatty acid composition to temperature--a study on carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) liver slices

Liver slices obtained from warm-, and cold-adapted carp were incubated in the presence of [1-14C]sodium acetate, -stearate, -linoleate, and -linolenate at various temperatures and the distribution of radioactivity among different phospholipid fatty acids was determined. Relative labelling of saturated fatty acids is reduced, while that of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially of docosahexanoate, is increased with decreasing temperatures. Liver slices of cold adapted carp produced a fatty acid population at 25 degrees C indistinguishable from that produced by warm adapted ones at the same temperature. Liver slices obtained from cold-, and warm-adapted animals start to reorganise the pattern of labelling immediately after the exposure to the opposite temperatures as evident from pulse-chase labelling experiments. Desaturation of saturated and various unsaturated fatty acids is initiated immediately after down-shift of the temperature. This cold induced increase in desaturase activity is prevented by cycloheximide in the incubation medium. It is concluded that phospholipid fatty acid composition is continuously adjusted to the temperature and is governed partly by temperature coefficient of fatty acid synthetase and partly by induction or deactivation of desaturases in cold and warm, respectively.