title: RNA sequencing reveals differential expression of mitochondrial and oxidation reduction genes in the long-lived naked mole-rat when compared to mice.
abstract: The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) is a long-lived, cancer resistant rodent and there is a great interest in identifying the adaptations responsible for these and other of its unique traits. We employed RNA sequencing to compare liver gene expression profiles between naked mole-rats and wild-derived mice. Our results indicate that genes associated with oxidoreduction and mitochondria were expressed at higher relative levels in naked mole-rats. The largest effect is nearly 300-fold higher expression of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (Epcam), a tumour-associated protein. Also of interest are the protease inhibitor, alpha2-macroglobulin (A2m), and the mitochondrial complex II subunit Sdhc, both ageing-related genes found strongly over-expressed in the naked mole-rat. These results hint at possible candidates for specifying species differences in ageing and cancer, and in particular suggest complex alterations in mitochondrial and oxidation reduction pathways in the naked mole-rat. Our differential gene expression analysis obviated the need for a reference naked mole-rat genome by employing a combination of Illumina/Solexa and 454 platforms for transcriptome sequencing and assembling transcriptome contigs of the non-sequenced species. Overall, our work provides new research foci and methods for studying the naked mole-rat's fascinating characteristics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Chuanfei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.forename: Karol
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Szafranski
authors.forename: Chris G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Faulkes
authors.forename: Clive W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Coen
authors.forename: Rochelle
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Buffenstein
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Platzer
authors.forename: João Pedro
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: de Magalhães
authors.forename: George M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Church
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000235:genetics; D000071858:Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule; D051379:Mice; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000235:genetics*; D019577:Mole Rats / Q000235:genetics*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D000511:alpha-Macroglobulins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D000071858:Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule; D000511:alpha-Macroglobulins
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