Abstract
Daphnia, in common with other branchiopod Crustacea, synthesizes hæmoglobin in response to a deficiency of dissolved oxygen in the surrounding water1. The hæmoglobin is in solution in the blood. In poikilothermal animals, chemical processes in the body normally proceed more rapidly at a high external temperature, and we have found that in Daphnia hæmoglobin synthesis is quicker in warm water. We wished, in addition, to know whether, at the lower of two temperatures, Daphnia would eventually acquire as much hæmoglobin as at the higher temperature (the low oxygen contents of the waters being maintained at the same level) or whether at the higher temperature a greater amount of hæmoglobin would be synthesized. The second alternative proved to be correct. In one experiment with D. obtusa, in water containing approximately 1 ml. dissolved oxygen per litre, the hæmoglobin content of the blood increased, in 28 days, five-fold at 17° C. but seven-fold at 28° C. After that there was no further increase. One cause of the greater synthesis at the higher temperature is probably the low oxygen content of the tissues, due to a high metabolic rate.
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References
Fox, H. Munro, Gilchrist, B. M., and Phear, E. A., Proc. Roy. Soc., B, 138, 514 (1951).
Fox, H. Munro, Proc. Roy. Soc., B, 135, 195 (1948).
Dixon, M., “Multi-enzyme Systems”, 73(Cambridge, 1951).
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FOX, H., PHEAR, E. & GILCHRIST, B. Influence of Temperature and Iron on Hæmoglobin Synthesis by Daphnia. Nature 171, 347 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/171347a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/171347a0
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