Meeting Abstract
Mitochondria have been of great interest to ecologists and physiologists because their function has large impacts on the evolution of species and the performance of individual organisms. Measurements of mitochondrial function within the skeletal muscle and liver tissues of an animal provide valuable insight into how an animal is responding to natural challenges or experimental interventions. Laboratory settings are often unable to replicate the natural environment of animals and the responses of those animals to natural events. Additionally, the ability to catch a wild animal and bring it into the lab for measures of mitochondrial respiration causes additional stress on the animal, and therefore the measurements may no longer be a “true” representation of mitochondrial respiration. To address these challenges, we converted a recreational vehicle into a mobile physiology laboratory (MitoMobile) in order to bring the molecular physiology lab to the field. To establish the utility of the MitoMobile, the methods of mitochondrial isolation and functional measures must be validated. To complete this, mitochondrial isolations with deer mice, house mice, and house finches will be completed in the MitoMobile and in a standard wet physiology lab (n=16 per species). Two technicians will complete mitochondrial isolations on skeletal muscle and liver at each location (n=8 per species) before switching locations (n=8 per species) and performing the methods again. This methodology will provide validation of each location and each technician. Data on coefficients of variation, maximal respiration (state 3), basal respiration (state 4), and the respiratory control ratio (RCR) will be presented.
