Beyond thermoregulation: metabolic function of cetacean blubber in migrating bowhead and beluga whales.

ABSTRACT: The processes of lipid deposition and utilization, via the gene leptin (Lep), are poorly understood in taxa with varying degrees of adipose storage. This study examines how these systems may have adapted in marine aquatic environments inhabited by cetaceans. Bowhead (Balaena mysticetus) and beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) are ideal study animals-they possess large subcutaneous adipose stores (blubber) and undergo bi-annual migrations concurrent with variations in food availability. To answer long-standing questions regarding how (or if) energy and lipid utilization adapted to aquatic stressors, we quantified variations in gene transcripts critical to lipid metabolism related to season, age, and blubber depth. We predicted leptin tertiary structure conservation and assessed inter-spec

SUBMITTER: Ball HC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5535305 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature