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Title: The Effects of Temperature on Cellular Physiology
Temperature impacts biological systems across all length and timescales. Cells and the enzymes that comprise them respond to temperature fluctuations on short timescales, and temperature can affect protein folding, the molecular composition of cells, and volume expansion. Entire ecosystems exhibit temperature-dependent behaviors, and global warming threatens to disrupt thermal homeostasis in microbes that are important for human and planetary health. Intriguingly, the growth rate of most species follows the Arrhenius law of equilibrium thermodynamics, with an activation energy similar to that of individual enzymes but with maximal growth rates and over temperature ranges that are species specific. In this review, we discuss how the temperature dependence of critical cellular processes, such as the central dogma and membrane fluidity, contributes to the temperature dependence of growth. We conclude with a discussion of adaptation to temperature shifts and the effects of temperature on evolution and on the properties of microbial ecosystems.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2125383
NSF-PAR ID:
10376716
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Annual Review of Biophysics
Volume:
51
Issue:
1
ISSN:
1936-122X
Page Range / eLocation ID:
499 to 526
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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