Project description:Placenta transcriptome from two species of Spalax. Associated with the article "Genome-wide adaptive complexes to underground stresses in blind mole rats Spalax."
Project description:Placenta transcriptome from two species of Spalax. Associated with the article "Genome-wide adaptive complexes to underground stresses in blind mole rats Spalax." Transcriptome or Gene expression
Project description:Spalax, an underground fossoral rodant is exposed to chronic hypoxic environments. Measurements of Spalax burrows indicated 7% oxygen and up to 15% CO2. In the laboratory Spalax can survive 3% oxygen up to 14 hours as compared to rats that survive less than 4 hours at these oxygen levels. we have proposed Spalax as a model species for the investigation of hypoxia tolerance. this research has implications for many biomedical phenomena involving ischemic disease, notably heart disease and cancer. In this work we have subjected Spalax to 3%, 6% and 10% O2 levels for varying lengths of time and have profiled expression patterns and differential expression in muscle and brain, two tissues with high energy requirements. For comparison with a terrestrial mammal we have profiled RNA from rats exposed to either 21% or 6% oxygen.
Project description:This study compares response to hypoxia in muscle between 2 hypoxia tolerant species of Spalax ehrenbergi, blind subterranean mole rat . The blind subterranean mole rat (Spalax ehrenbergi superspecies) is an excellent model of hypoxic tolerance, living underground and exposed to fluctuating O2 and CO2 levels. Unique structural and functional adaptations of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems allow survival at severely reduced oxygen tension. In this study we have compared expression profiles of muscle tissue between two hypoxia tolerant species of Spalax ehrengergi at normoxic (21%) and hypoxic (3%) levels of oxygen concentration by cross species hybridization using a mouse cDNA array containing 15,000 gene elements. Results uncover numerous genes involved in angiogenesis, apoptosis, and oxidative stress and responding in a species specific manner to hypoxia. Among the most striking, cardiac ankyrin repeat protein (Carp) and activating transcription factor 3 (Atf3), LIM and cysteine-rich domains 1 (Lmcd1) and syndecan 2 (Sdc2). These results support the hypothesis that Spalax is variably adapted to fluctuating oxygen tension. Differences may involve very specific metabolic pathways and functional adaptations at the structural and molecular levels. Elucidation of the natural variation and evolutionary changes under hypoxia within this superspecies may have biomedical applications in ischemic syndromes and cancer. Keywords: hypoxia, Spalax, cDNA microarray
Project description:Spalax, an underground fossoral rodant is exposed to chronic hypoxic environments. Measurements of Spalax burrows indicated 7% oxygen and up to 15% CO2. In the laboratory Spalax can survive 3% oxygen up to 14 hours as compared to rats that survive less than 4 hours at these oxygen levels. we have proposed Spalax as a model species for the investigation of hypoxia tolerance. this research has implications for many biomedical phenomena involving ischemic disease, notably heart disease and cancer. In this work we have subjected Spalax to 3%, 6% and 10% O2 levels for varying lengths of time and have profiled expression patterns and differential expression in muscle and brain, two tissues with high energy requirements. For comparison with a terrestrial mammal we have profiled RNA from rats exposed to either 21% or 6% oxygen. Spalax animals, captured in the field and held in captivity were subjected to 3 different levels of hypoxia. (1) 3% O2 for 6 hrs (2) 6% O2 for 6 hrs (3) 10% O2 for 44hrs (4) 21% O2 (normoxia). For comparison, Rats were subjected to 21% and 6% oxygen. Animals were euthanized according to approved protocols and RNA extracted from muscle and brain. Samples were labeled using the Agilent low input 2-color labeling kit and hybridized to a custom Spalax microarray (8x15K format). Results were normalized and analyzed using Limma from the R bioconductor package. Differentially expressed gens were identified as well as over-represented gene onotolgy defined functions.