JP Jan 14 16
Notes on 1995 ADAPTIVE RESPONSES TO FEEDING IN BURMESE PYTHONS: PAY BEFORE PUMPING Stephen M. Secor and Jared Diamond
Noteworthy text
Three factors combine to make the metabolic response to feeding so large in pythons compared with that in mammals: the pythons’ much larger meal size; their gut atrophy during their long fasts, requiring a high investment in rebuilding the atrophied gut; and their much lower basal metabolic rates, constituting the low baseline from which oxygen consumption rises during digestion (1321).
The first organs to respond with significant increases in wet mass (within 6 h of the snake’s consuming a meal) are the stomach and small intestine, the organs most immediately involved in digesting the meal (1323).
typical responses to feeding include intestinal hypertrophy and up-regulation of intestinal nutrient transporters and hydrolytic enzymes (1313). Karasov and Diamond, 1987; Toloza et al. 1991.*
- Track this research down, look for specific proteins in order to find the responsible genes.
