Aestivation in Nature: Physiological Strategies and Evolutionary Adaptations in Hypometabolic States

Aestivation is considered to be one of the “purest” hypometabolic states in nature, as it involves aerobic dormancy that can be induced and sustained without complex factors. Animals that undergo aestivation to protect themselves from environmental stressors such as high temperatures, droughts, and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2023-09, Vol.24 (18), p.14093
Main Authors: Jiang, Chunxi, Storey, Kenneth B, Yang, Hongsheng, Sun, Lina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
aestivation
Ammonia
Analysis
Animals
Antioxidants
Body temperature
Droughts
Food
Heat
Hibernation
hypometabolic states
Hypoxia
Invertebrates
Metabolism
Metabolites
Mollusks
Nitrogen
Organisms
Oxidative stress
Physiological aspects
physiological strategies
Physiology
Protein synthesis
Proteins
regulatory network
Review
Sub-Saharan Africa
Vincristine
Water shortages
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Summary:Aestivation is considered to be one of the “purest” hypometabolic states in nature, as it involves aerobic dormancy that can be induced and sustained without complex factors. Animals that undergo aestivation to protect themselves from environmental stressors such as high temperatures, droughts, and food shortages. However, this shift in body metabolism presents new challenges for survival, including oxidative stress upon awakening from aestivation, accumulation of toxic metabolites, changes in energy sources, adjustments to immune status, muscle atrophy due to prolonged immobility, and degeneration of internal organs due to prolonged food deprivation. In this review, we summarize the physiological and metabolic strategies, key regulatory factors, and networks utilized by aestivating animals to address the aforementioned components of aestivation. Furthermore, we present a comprehensive overview of the advancements made in aestivation research across major species, including amphibians, fish, reptiles, annelids, mollusks, and echinoderms, categorized according to their respective evolutionary positions. This approach offers a distinct perspective for comparative analysis, facilitating an understanding of the shared traits and unique features of aestivation across different groups of organisms.
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms241814093