Thermal Biology (temperature Sensing And Temperature-responding Systems)

This book concerns two subthemes, ''temperature sensing'' and ''temperature-responding systems'', addressing the questions of how temperature is sensed and how temperature is related to biological functions, respectively.

This book concerns two subthemes, ''temperature sensing'' and ''temperature-responding systems'', addressing the questions of how temperature is sensed and how temperature is related to biological functions, respectively. Temperature affects various physiological functions and is one of the most important factors in homeostasis. The book seeks to integrate our understanding of temperature-dependent biological phenomena with the development of techniques that detect and regulate local temperatures in cells and organs with high resolution and precision.

Part I: “Temperature sensing” addresses temperature sensing mechanisms by focusing on plasma membrane molecules, intracellular molecules and intracellular metabolic pathways. This part seeks to develop ways to detect and regulate local temperatures at a cellular level, which would facilitate future temperature- sensing research.

Part II: “Temperature- responding systems” focuses on the neural circuits that integrate information concerning ambient temperature sensation, the effects of temperature on metabolic functions and biological rhythms, and mechanisms involved in emotion formation. This part clarifies crosstalk between temperature-responding systems by developing methods to detect and regulate local temperatures in organs.

Authors of this book are leading researchers investigating temperature-sensing mechanisms across a wide range of biological responses from molecular to whole organism levels. The book promotes an integrated understanding of temperature-dependent biological phenomena under a novel discipline, ''thermal biology'', which leads to a novel concept wherein ''temperature'' as a physical quantity could be viewed as an element of new signaling mechanisms.

Chapter 1. Structure and Function of Thermosensitive TRP Channels.- Chapter 2. Biomimetic lipid raft: Domain stability and interaction with physiologically active molecules.- Chapter 3. Cold tolerance of nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.- Chapter 4. Temperature-dependent gating of thermo-sensitive TRP channels.- Chapter 5. Thermal stress and nuclear transport.- Chapter 6. Thermal Biology of Membrane Lipid Dynamics.- Chapter 7. Intracellular thermometry using molecular sensors for thermal biology.- Chapter 8. Temperature dependent activity of the voltage-gated proton channel.- Chapter 9. Sensory processing of cutaneous temperature in the peripheral and central nervous system.- Chapter 10. Central mechanisms of thermoregulation and fever.- Chapter 11. Interorgan communication involved in BAT thermogenesis.- Chapter 12. Circadian clock and body temperature.- Chapter 13. Body temperature control by cold- and warm-seeking behaviors.- Chapter 14. Regulation of neural functions by brain temperature and thermo-TRP channels.- Chapter 15. β-Adrenergic signal and epigenomic regulatory process for adaptive thermogenesis.- Chapter 16. Mitophagy responds to the environmental temperature and regulates mitochondrial mass in adipose tissues.- Chapter 17. Roles of TRPA1 in painful cold hypersensitivity.- Chapter 18. Thermal adaptation in animals: genes, development, and evolution.

Makoto TOMINAGA

Division of Cell Signaling, Okazaki Institute for Integrative Bioscience (National Institute for Physiological Sciences) Okazaki, Aichi, Japan

Masahiro TAKAGI

School of Materials Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Nomi Ishikawa, Japan

This book concerns two subthemes, ''temperature sen