Xuan An, Leyan Mao, Yinjia Wang, Qinqin Xu, Xi Liu, Shangzhe Zhang, Zhenglei Qiao, Bowen Li, Fang Li, Zhuoran Kuang, Na Wan, Xiaolong Liang, Qijiao Duan, Zhilong Feng, Xiaojie Yang, Sanyuan Liu, Eviatar Nevo, Jianquan Liu, Jay F Storz, Kexin Li
Zokors, an Asiatic group of subterranean rodents, originated in lowlands and colonized high-elevational zones following the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau about 3.6 million years ago. Zokors live at high elevation in subterranean burrows and experience hypobaric hypoxia, including both hypoxia (low oxygen concentration) and hypercapnia (elevated partial pressure of CO2 ). Here we report a genomic analysis of six zokor species (genus Eospalax) with different elevational ranges to identify structural variants (deletions and inversions) that may have contributed to high-elevation adaptation...
February 2024: Nature Ecology & Evolution