Mechanistic origins of temperature scaling in the early embryonic cell cycle.

ABSTRACT: Temperature strongly influences physiological and ecological processes, particularly in ectotherms. While complex physiological rates often follow Arrhenius-like scaling, originally formulated for single reactions, the underlying reasons remain unclear. Here, we examine temperature scaling of the early embryonic cell cycle across six ectothermic species, including Xenopus, Danio rerio,  Caenorhabditis, and  Drosophila. We find remarkably consistent apparent activation energies (75  ± 7 kJ/mol), corresponding to a Q₁₀ of 2.8 at 20°C. Computational modeling shows that both biphasic scaling in key cell cycle components and mismatches in activation energies across partially rate-determining enzymes can explain the observed approximate Arrhenius behavior and its breakdown at temperat

SUBMITTER: Rombouts J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12394406 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature