Evolutive adaptatament of Oxygen transport mechanisms

The extreme environmental conditions of Antarctica represent a strong challenge to which a number of organisms have been forced to be confronted to. Understanding how these organisms have evolved to cope with these challenges implies the elucidation of those molecular mechanisms which are at the basis of the peculiar physiological and biochemical adaptation displayed by the given species. In this context fish fauna has developed a number of cellular and molecular mechanisms of cold adaptation well representative of the adaptive strategies which may be adopted by living organisms under a strong evolutionary pressure. Oxygen transport and utilization is one of the most interesting process to study the adaptation mechanisms which have been developed in the various animal species in relation to their particular habitat. Oxygen transport systems and mitochondria (as site of oxygen utilization) directly link external conditions with body requirements and are therefore interesting for studying the effect of the environment on molecular and cellular evolution.