Low-temperature injury in insect tissues and mechanisms of its repair

Abstract

While physiological adjustments accompanying insect cold acclimation prior to cold stress have been relatively well explored, processes of recovery after cold stress received much less attention. Using a broad array of physiological, molecular biological and microscopic techniques, I aimed to capture the complexity of processes occurring after the exposure to cold stress in the larvae of two drosophilid species - freeze tolerant Chymomyza costata and freeze sensitive Drosophila melanogaster. Several lines of evidence pointed toward impaired mitochondrial functions in lethally frozen larvae. The freeze-tolerant phenotypes of C. costata retain integrity of mitochondria even after deep freezing