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Endothermic animals mostly use internal heat production through metabolic active organs and tissues (liver, kidney, heart, brain, muscle) or specialized heat producing tissues like brown adipose tissue (BAT). In general, endotherms therefore have higher metabolic rates than ectotherms at a given body mass.
Function: An enzyme that is produced by animals that forms part of the innate immune system and is abundant in the secretions of saliva, human milk, tears, and mucus. It functions as an antimicrobial agent by splitting the peptidoglycan component of bacterial cell walls, which then leads to cell death.
Catalase is a common enzyme found in nearly all living organisms exposed to oxygen (such as bacteria, plants, and animals) which catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen. [5] It is a very important enzyme in protecting the cell from oxidative damage by reactive oxygen species (ROS).
Thermophiles can survive at high temperatures, whereas other bacteria or archaea would be damaged and sometimes killed if exposed to the same temperatures. The enzymes in thermophiles function at high temperatures. Some of these enzymes are used in molecular biology, for example the Taq polymerase used in PCR. [4] "
Poikilotherm animals must be able to function over a wider range of temperatures than homeotherms. The speed of most chemical reactions vary with temperature, and in order to function poikilotherms may have four to ten enzyme systems that operate at different temperatures for an important chemical reaction. [ 7 ]
A eurytherm is an organism, often an endotherm, that can function at a wide range of ambient temperatures. [1] To be considered a eurytherm, all stages of an organism's life cycle must be considered, including juvenile and larval stages. [2]
Because many homeothermic animals use enzymes that are specialized for a narrow range of body temperatures, hypothermia rapidly leads to torpor and then death. Additionally, homeothermy obtained from endothermy is a high energy strategy [5] and many environments will offer lower carrying capacity to these organisms. In cold weather the energy ...
Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature as its own body temperature, thus avoiding the need for internal thermoregulation.