Divergence of Parartemia and Artemia haemoglobin genes

Parartemia is a genus of brine shrimp endemic to Australia which is related to the more widespread and economically importantArtemia sp. The expression of a multimeric haemoglobin molecule inArtemia is well documented but inParartemia only trace levels of a possible haemoglobin have been observed. In this paper we describe the DNA sequence of a domain of a haemoglobin molecule inParartemia. The derived amino acid sequence suggests that the possible date of divergence about 85 million years ago of the two genera predates the divergence of the C and T polymers ofArtemia haemoglobin. This date would correlate with the physical and temporal isolation of Australia in the late Mesozoic.     

Physiological and genetical adaptation to temperature in fish populations

The physiological and genetical adaptation of fishes to environmental temperatures has been studied by analyzing data concerning: (i) the oxygen binding properties of haemoglobin recorded during growth experiments on Atlantic cod, and (ii) the primary structure of haemoglobin (Hb) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) of several fish species living in polar and temperate areas. The results on the oxygen binding properties of cod's haemoglobin indicate that for this species a temperature of around 12°C is the most favourable one, irrespective of the haemoglobin genotype, and are in line with recent evidence challenging the existence of significant evolutionary differences between cod stocks in North Atlantic. The primary structures of both Hb and LDH from species living under temperate environments show a higher variability as compared to that from polar species, although the difference in the recurrent patterns of hydrophobicity between the two areas is much larger for Hb. These results highlight the dominant role of physiological and genetical factors in shaping the adaptation to temperature at the individual and at the species level, respectively.