In adaption to shifts in ambient temperature, both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells maintain physiological homeostasis by adjusting various cellular properties, including membrane lipid fluidity, the capacity to maintain proteostasis and rate of protein synthesis [1]. How cells respond to temperature changes is a fundamental question in cell physiology. Here we briefly review current understand...

Previous spin-label and electromyographic experiments with rats fed 20,25-diazacholesterol, an inhibitor of the biosynthet ic conversion of desmostero[ to cholesterol, demonstrated an increased e ry th rocy te membrane f luidi ty and myotonia, a prolonged muscle contraction upon stimulation. The current studies with rats showed normal erythrocyte f luidi ty in animals fed 20,25-diazacholesterol...

How do cells maintain the fluidity of cellular membrane in response to temperature fluctuation? In this issue of Cell, Ma et al. identify a regulatory circuit involving a heat-induced acyl-CoA dehydrogenase that controls the lipid saturation level and the fluidity of cellular membranes by transcriptionally regulating a lipid desaturase.

This study determined the membrane fluidity of clostridial endospores during treatment with heat and pressure with nisin or reutericyclin. Heating (90°C) reduced laurdan (6-dodecanoyl-2-dimethylaminonaphthalene) general polarization, corresponding to membrane fluidization. Pressure (200 MPa) stabilized membrane order. Reutericyclin and nisin exhibit divergent effects on heat- and pressure-induc...

This paper investigates learning processes across a built environment design curriculum through the recognition of the four learning styles defined in the experiential learning theory of Kolb, i.e., ‘accommodating’, ‘diverging’, ‘assimilating’ and ‘converging.’ The paper focuses on the results of a cross-curriculum learning style survey. The results of the survey appear to explain why many prio...

The influence of the industrial sector is a longstanding assumption in entrepreneurship studies, yet the mechanisms through which the industrial sector shapes entrepreneurial phenomena and the processes through which entrepreneurial actors interact with sectors to prospect, develop and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities remain largely under-theorized and little understood. We critically re-e...

Dimethylhydrazine (DMH) is a potent procarcinogen with selectivity for the colon. To determine whether alterations in the lipid composition and fluidity of rat colonic brush border membranes existed before the development of DMH-induced colon cancer, rats were injected s.c. with this agent (20 mg/kg body weight per wk) or diluent for 5, 10, and 15 wk. Animals were killed at these time periods a...

Biological chemists have often regarded the fluidity or plasticity of a membrane as a property that may be adaptively altered to accommodate changes in environmental temperature. The implication that cells exhibit an intelligent (or at least, appropriate) response provides us with several questions to examine. (1) Is temperature or some aspect of fluidity perceived by the responsive cellular el...

Novelty and surprises differentially modify the left and right sides of the brain. Here we show that repeated brief exposures to the novelty of a non-home environment during infancy and early adulthood lead to long-lasting changes in adulthood in the global bi-lateralization organization of the brain as indexed by a transiently detectable right-sided orientating bias upon the initial encounter ...