When chill-susceptible insects are exposed to low temperatures they enter a temporary state of paralysis referred to as a chill coma. The most well-studied physiological mechanism of chill coma onset and recovery involves regulation of ion homeostasis. Previous studies show that changes in metabolism may also underlie the ability to recovery quickly, but the roles of genes that regulate metabolic homeostasis in chill coma recovery time (CCRT) are not well understood. Here, we investigate the roles of Sestrin and Spargel (Drosophila homolog of PGC-1α), which are involved in metabolic homeostasis and substrate oxidation, on CCRT in Drosophila melanogaster. We find that sestrin and spargel mutants have impaired CCRT. sestrin is required in the muscle and nervous system tissue for normal CCRT and spargel is required in muscle and adipose. On the basis that exercise induces sestrin and spargel, we also test the interaction of cold and exercise. We find that pre-treatment with one of these stressors does not consistently confer acute protection against the other. We conclude that Sestrin and Spargel are important in the chill coma response, independent of their role in exercise.

当对寒冷敏感的昆虫暴露在低温下时，它们会进入一种称为寒冷昏迷的暂时麻痹状态。冷昏迷发作和恢复的最充分研究的生理机制涉及离子稳态的调节。先前的研究表明，新陈代谢的变化也可能是快速恢复能力的基础，但在冷昏迷恢复时间 (CCRT) 中调节代谢稳态的基因的作用尚不清楚。在这里，我们研究了 Sestrin 和 Spargel（PGC-1α 的果蝇同源物）在果蝇中的CCRT 中的作用，它们参与代谢稳态和底物氧化。我们发现sestrin和spargel突变体损害了CCRT。正常CCRT 的肌肉和神经系统组织需要sestrin，肌肉和脂肪需要spargel。在运动诱发sestrin和spargel的基础上，我们还测试了寒冷和运动的相互作用。我们发现用这些压力源之一进行预处理并不能始终如一地赋予针对另一个的急性保护。我们得出结论，Sestrin 和 Spargel 在寒冷昏迷反应中很重要，与它们在运动中的作用无关。