ArticleScientific reports2017
Mitochondrial glycerol 3-phosphate facilitates bumblebee pre-flight thermogenesis.
Article in Scientific reports, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Convergent elevation of mitochondrial proton leakage improves thermogenesis in honeybees.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Coordinated molecular and physiological adaptations enable activity at sub-freezing temperatures in the snow fly Chionea alexandriana.Current biology : CB · 2026Article
- Energy dissipation via the glycerol phosphate shuttle: coupling glycolysis to mitochondrial thermogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster flight muscle.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2026Article
- Lipid Metabolism in Relation to Carbohydrate Metabolism.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Evolutionary diversity of muscle OXPHOS efficiencyProceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Mitonuclear Coevolution in Bumblebees (Bombus): Genomic Signatures and Its Role in Climatic Niche Adaptation.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- The Impact of the Competition on miRNA, Proteins, and Metabolites in the Blood Exosomes of theGenes · 2025Article
- The branched mitochondrial respiratory chain from the jellyfish Stomolophus sp2 as a probable adaptive response to environmental changes.Journal of bioenergetics and biomembranes · 2024Article
- Male and female syringeal muscles exhibit superfast shortening velocities in zebra finches.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
- Handling heatwaves: balancing thermoregulation, foraging and bumblebee colony success.Conservation physiology · 2024Article
- Consequences of microsporidian prior exposure for virus infection outcomes and bumble bee host health.Oecologia · 2023Article
- Temperature and livestock grazing trigger transcriptome responses in bumblebees along an elevational gradient.iScience · 2022Article
- The multiple facets of mitochondrial regulations controlling cellular thermogenesis.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2022Review
- Paradoxes of Hymenoptera flight muscles, extreme machines.Biophysical reviews · 2022Review
- Flexible Thermal Sensitivity of Mitochondrial Oxygen Consumption and Substrate Oxidation in Flying Insect Species.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Thermally tolerant intertidal triplefin fish (Tripterygiidae) sustain ATP dynamics better than subtidal species under acute heat stress.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- CytochromeCells · 2021Review
- Phylotranscriptomic Insights into the Diversification of Endothermic Thunnus Tunas.Molecular biology and evolution · 2019Article
- Acidosis Maintains the Function of Brain Mitochondria in Hypoxia-Tolerant Triplefin Fish: A Strategy to Survive Acute Hypoxic Exposure?Frontiers in physiology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) fly at low ambient temperatures where other insects cannot, and to do so they must pre-warm their flight muscles. While some have proposed mechanisms, none fully explain how pre-flight thermogenesis occurs. Here, we present a novel hypothesis based on the less studied mitochondrial glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase pathway (mGPDH). Using calorimetry, and high resolution respirometry coupled with fluorimetry, we report substrate oxidation by mGPDH in permeabilised flight muscles operates, in vitro, at a high flux, even in the absence of ADP. This may be facilitated by an endogenous, mGPDH-mediated uncoupling of mitochondria. This uncoupling increases ETS activity, which results in increased heat release. Furthermore, passive regulation of this mechanism is achieved via dampened temperature sensitivity of mGPDH relative to other respiratory pathways, and subsequent consumption of its substrate, glycerol 3-phosphate (G3P), at low temperatures. Mitochondrial GPDH may therefore facilitate pre-flight thermogenesis through poor mitochondrial coupling. We calculate this can occur at a sufficient rate to warm flight muscles until shivering commences, and until flight muscle function is adequate for bumblebees to fly in the cold.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.