Abstract
THE specific cause of the death rates of unicellular organisms and poikilothermic animals at high temperatures is not known for certain1. We wish to report a good numerical correlation between certain thermodynamic parameters in protein denaturation and death rates, where these have been reported, for these organisms. A similar correlation may exist between the thermal denaturation of other biopolymers, such as DNA and RNA, and thermal death, but in the absence of adequate data we cannot consider this possibility further.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Strehler, B. L., Time, Cells and Aging (Academic Press, New York, 1962).
Glasstone, S., Laidler, K. J., and Eyring, H., The Theory of Rate Processes (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1941).
Williams, T. P., and Milby, S. E., Vision Res., 8, 359 (1968).
Rosenberg, B., and Williams, T. P., Vision Res. (in the press).
Eley, D. D., J. Polymer Sci., Pt C, 17, 73 (1967).
Rosenberg, B., Bhowmik, B. B., Harder, H. C., and Postow, E., J. Chem. Phys., 49, 4108 (1968).
Lumry, R., and Rajender, S., Biopolymers, 9, 1125 (1970).
McCreary, J. R., and Thorn, R. J., J. Chem. Phys., 50, 3725 (1969).
Leffler, J., and Grunwald, E., Rates and Equilibria of Organic Reactions (Wiley, New York, 1963).
Exner, O., Nature, 201, 488 (1964).
Joly, M., A Physico-chemical Approach to Denaturation of Proteins (Academic Press, New York, 1965).
Sukhorukov, B. I., and Likhtenshtein, G. I., Biofizika, 10, 935 (1965).
van Uden, N., Abranches, P., and Cabeca-Silva, C., Archiv. Mikrobiol., 61, 381 (1968).
Barnes, R., Vogel, H., and Gordon, I., Proc. US Nat. Acad. Sci., 62, 263 (1969).
Luedecke, L. O., thesis, Michigan State Univ. (1962).
Walker, G. C., thesis, Michigan State Univ. (1964).
Beamer, P. R., and Tanner, F. W., Zentralblatt Bakt., 100, 81 (1939).
Strehler, B. L., J. Gerontol., 16, 2 (1961).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
ROSENBERG, B., KEMENY, G., SWITZER, R. et al. Quantitative Evidence for Protein Denaturation as the Cause of Thermal Death. Nature 232, 471–473 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/232471a0
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/232471a0
This article is cited by
-
Plasmonic tweezers: for nanoscale optical trapping and beyond
Light: Science & Applications (2021)
-
Evaluation and comparison between the bactericidal effect of diode laser irradiation (970 nm) and silver nanoparticles on Enterococcus faecalis bacterial strain (an in vitro study)
Bulletin of the National Research Centre (2019)
-
Modeling the temperature effect on the specific growth rate of phytoplankton: a review
Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology (2017)
-
Hyperthermia restores apoptosis induced by death receptors through aggregation-induced c-FLIP cytosolic depletion
Cell Death & Disease (2015)
-
Correlated Parameter Fit of Arrhenius Model for Thermal Denaturation of Proteins and Cells
Annals of Biomedical Engineering (2014)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
