Pleistocene climate-driven diversification of plateau zokor (Eospalax baileyi) in the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Kang, Yukun; Liu, Qianqian; Yao, Baohui; Hou, Qiqi; Su, Jian

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108923

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 72 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi) is a small underground rodent endemic to China, mainly inhabiting alpine meadows, alpine grasslands, scrub and farmland on the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding high altitude areas, living alone in sealed underground burrows at altitudes of 2,000-4,200 m (Su et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2022). Due to the confines of underground burrows and the effects of seasonal plant dieback, plateau zokor feed primarily on the underground parts of roots, rhizomes and other weeds, even preferring some common poisonous weeds such as Oxytropis kansuensis and Stellera chamaejasme (Liu D. et al, 2021;Kang et al, 2022). They are the epitome of successful physiological adaptation in the face of the harsh environment characterized by low temperatures, low pressure, lack of oxygen at high-altitude and high concentrations of CO 2 in caves, as well as complete darkness (Pu et al, 2019a;Kang et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gut microbiota facilitates adaptation of the plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi) to the plateau living environment

Wang²,

Liu³

et al. 2023

Front. Microbiol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Gut microbiota not only helps the hosts to perform many key physiological functions such as food digestion, energy harvesting and immune regulation, but also influences host ecology and facilitates adaptation of the host to extreme environments. Plateau zokors epitomize successful physiological adaptation to their living environment in the face of the harsh environment characterized by low temperature, low pressure and hypoxia in the Tibetan plateau region and high concentrations of CO2 in their burrows. Therefore, here we used a metagenomic sequencing approach to explore how gut microbiota contributed to the adaptive evolution of the plateau zokor on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Our metagenomic results show that the gut microbiota of plateau zokors on the Tibetan plateau is not only enriched in a large number of species related to energy metabolism and production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), but also significantly enriched the KO terms that involve carbohydrate uptake pathways, which well address energy uptake in plateau zokors while also reducing inflammatory responses due to low pressure, hypoxia and high CO2 concentrations. There was also a significant enrichment of tripeptidyl-peptidase II (TPPII) associated with antigen processing, apoptosis, DNA damage repair and cell division, which may facilitate the immune response and tissue damage repair in plateau zokors under extreme conditions. These results suggest that these gut microbiota and their metabolites together contribute to the physiological adaptation of plateau zokors, providing new insights into the contribution of the microbiome to the evolution of mammalian adaptation.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gut microbiota facilitates adaptation of the plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi) to the plateau living environment

Wang²,

Liu³

et al. 2023

Front. Microbiol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Conversely, areas with less environmental change and grassland degradation have fewer of these plants. Plateau zokor populations in these areas have a wide variety of food but lack SC feeding experience, and under different geographical conditions undergo genetic differentiation due to spatial isolation, with differences in feeding width [ 28 ]. It is likely that two plateau zokor populations in different geographic environments may have different metabolic capacities owing to their different SC feeding experiences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative transcriptomes reveal geographic differences in the ability of the liver of plateau zokors (Eospalax baileyi) to respond and adapt to toxic plants

Tan,

Wang,

Liu

et al. 2023

BMC Genomics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Environmental changes are expected to intensify in the future. The invasion of toxic plants under environmental changes may change herbivore feeding environments. Herbivores living long-term in toxic plant-feeding environments will inevitably ingest plant secondary metabolites (PSMs), and under different feeding environments are likely to have unique protection mechanisms that support improved adaptation to PSMs in their habitat. We aimed to compare different subterranean herbivore population responses and adaptations to toxic plants to unveil their feeding challenges. Results Here, we investigated the adaptive capacity of the liver in two geographically separated populations of plateau zokors (Eospalax baileyi) before and after exposure to the toxic plant Stellera chamaejasme (SC), at the organ, biochemical, and transcriptomic levels. The results showed no significant liver granules or inflammatory reactions in the Tianzhu (TZ) population after the SC treatment. The transaminase level in the TZ population was significantly lower than that in the Luqu population. Transcriptome analysis revealed that the TZ population exhibited interactions with other detoxification metabolic pathways by oxytocin pathway-associated genes, including diacylglycerol lipase alpha (Dagla), calcium/calmodulin dependent protein kinase II Alpha (Camk2a), and CD38 molecule (Cd38). The phase II process of liver drug metabolism increased to promote the rate of metabolism. We found that alternative splicing (AS) and the expression of the cyclin D (Ccnd1) gene interact—a TZ population hallmark—reduced liver inflammatory responses. Conclusion Our study supports the detoxification limitation hypothesis that differences in liver detoxification metabolism gene expression and AS are potential factors in herbivore adaptation to PSMs and may be a strategy of different herbivore populations to improve toxic plant adaptability.

show abstract

“…Its unique underground habitat habits have led to the creation of a complex underground tunnel system, which plays a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity, energy ow, and material circulation within alpine grassland ecosystems. As a result, the plateau zokor is often referred to as the "ecosystem engineer" of the alpine grassland (Zhang 2007, Kang et al 2022.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of zokor mounds on the stability of soil micro-foodweb in lightly disturbed alpine meadows on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Nian,

Li,

Yang

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi) is a subterranean rodent endemic to the alpine meadow of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Zokor mound building changes plant communities and soil conditions. In our study, the soil soil microorganisms and nematode communities, and soil physicochemical properties in the zokor mounds with dominant plant groups Potentilla anserina (PM), Leontopodium leontopodioides (LM) and naked new zokor mound (NM) were investigated in the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Chao1 index and Shannon diversity index of bacteria and nematodes in PM were higher than those in other treatments. At the same time, the Chao1 index of fungi in PM was also higher. However, fungal Shannon diversity index, total nematode metabolic footprint, bacterivorous nematode metabolic footprint and omnivorous predatory nematode metabolic footprint were higher in NM. The metabolic footprint of plant-parasitic nematodes in LM was higher than that of other treatments. The functional metabolic footprint, enrichment index and structural index of soil nematodes all showed the order of NM > CK > PM > LM, indicating that the soil micro-foodweb structure of NM is relatively stable. Energy flow analysis showed that bacterial and fungal energy flow channels were dominant in PM, while plant energy flow channels had the highest proportion in LM, indicating that soil food web energy conversion and utilization efficiency in PM was higher. In addition, we found that the NM soil micro-foodweb was dominated by fungal decomposition, while PM was dominated by bacterial decomposition. Furthermore, bottom-up effects of nutrients in zokor mounds of different vegetation types determine the structure and activity of these pathways.

show abstract

Pleistocene climate-driven diversification of plateau zokor (Eospalax baileyi) in the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Cited by 6 publications

References 72 publications

Gut microbiota facilitates adaptation of the plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi) to the plateau living environment

Gut microbiota facilitates adaptation of the plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi) to the plateau living environment

Comparative transcriptomes reveal geographic differences in the ability of the liver of plateau zokors (Eospalax baileyi) to respond and adapt to toxic plants

Effects of zokor mounds on the stability of soil micro-foodweb in lightly disturbed alpine meadows on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About