title: The yak genome and adaptation to life at high altitude.
abstract: Domestic yaks (Bos grunniens) provide meat and other necessities for Tibetans living at high altitude on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and in adjacent regions. Comparison between yak and the closely related low-altitude cattle (Bos taurus) is informative in studying animal adaptation to high altitude. Here, we present the draft genome sequence of a female domestic yak generated using Illumina-based technology at 65-fold coverage. Genomic comparisons between yak and cattle identify an expansion in yak of gene families related to sensory perception and energy metabolism, as well as an enrichment of protein domains involved in sensing the extracellular environment and hypoxic stress. Positively selected and rapidly evolving genes in the yak lineage are also found to be significantly enriched in functional categories and pathways related to hypoxia and nutrition metabolism. These findings may have important implications for understanding adaptation to high altitude in other animal species and for hypoxia-related diseases in humans.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors: Qiang
authors: Q
authors: Qiu
authors: Guojie
authors: G
authors: Zhang
authors: Tao
authors: T
authors: Ma
authors: Wubin
authors: W
authors: Qian
authors: Junyi
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Zhiqiang
authors: Z
authors: Ye
authors: Changchang
authors: C
authors: Cao
authors: Quanjun
authors: Q
authors: Hu
authors: Jaebum
authors: J
authors: Kim
authors: Denis M
authors: DM
authors: Larkin
authors: Loretta
authors: L
authors: Auvil
authors: Boris
authors: B
authors: Capitanu
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Ma
authors: Harris A
authors: HA
authors: Lewin
authors: Xiaoju
authors: X
authors: Qian
authors: Yongshan
authors: Y
authors: Lang
authors: Ran
authors: R
authors: Zhou
authors: Lizhong
authors: L
authors: Wang
authors: Kun
authors: K
authors: Wang
authors: Jinquan
authors: J
authors: Xia
authors: Shengguang
authors: S
authors: Liao
authors: Shengkai
authors: S
authors: Pan
authors: Xu
authors: X
authors: Lu
authors: Haolong
authors: H
authors: Hou
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Xuetao
authors: X
authors: Zang
authors: Ye
authors: Y
authors: Yin
authors: Hui
authors: H
authors: Ma
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Zhaofeng
authors: Z
authors: Wang
authors: Yingmei
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Dawei
authors: D
authors: Zhang
authors: Takahiro
authors: T
authors: Yonezawa
authors: Masami
authors: M
authors: Hasegawa
authors: Yang
authors: Y
authors: Zhong
authors: Wenbin
authors: W
authors: Liu
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Zhiyong
authors: Z
authors: Huang
authors: Shengxiang
authors: S
authors: Zhang
authors: Ruijun
authors: R
authors: Long
authors: Huanming
authors: H
authors: Yang
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Johannes A
authors: JA
authors: Lenstra
authors: David N
authors: DN
authors: Cooper
authors: Yi
authors: Y
authors: Wu
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Peng
authors: P
authors: Shi
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Jianquan
authors: J
authors: Liu
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization / Q000235:genetics*; D000531:Altitude; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D016678:Genome; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010802:Phylogeny; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004247:DNA