title: Genome-wide adaptive complexes to underground stresses in blind mole rats Spalax.
abstract: The blind mole rat (BMR), Spalax galili, is an excellent model for studying mammalian adaptation to life underground and medical applications. The BMR spends its entire life underground, protecting itself from predators and climatic fluctuations while challenging it with multiple stressors such as darkness, hypoxia, hypercapnia, energetics and high pathonecity. Here we sequence and analyse the BMR genome and transcriptome, highlighting the possible genomic adaptive responses to the underground stressors. Our results show high rates of RNA/DNA editing, reduced chromosome rearrangements, an over-representation of short interspersed elements (SINEs) probably linked to hypoxia tolerance, degeneration of vision and progression of photoperiodic perception, tolerance to hypercapnia and hypoxia and resistance to cancer. The remarkable traits of the BMR, together with its genomic and transcriptomic information, enhance our understanding of adaptation to extreme environments and will enable the utilization of BMR models for biomedical research in the fight against cancer, stroke and cardiovascular diseases.
authors.affiliation: 1] BGI-Tech, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China [2] Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
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authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel.
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authors.affiliation: BGI-Tech, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
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authors.affiliation: The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel.
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authors.lastname: Levanon
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark [2] China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
authors.forename: Jing
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authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel.
authors.forename: Aaron
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authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3DA, UK.
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authors.affiliation: BGI-Tech, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
authors.forename: Xuanting
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authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Tauber Bioinformatics Research Center, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel.
authors.forename: Sergey
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authors.lastname: Feranchuk
authors.affiliation: BGI-Tech, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
authors.forename: Yabing
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authors.affiliation: Tauber Bioinformatics Research Center, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel.
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authors.affiliation: BGI-Tech, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
authors.forename: Yue
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authors.affiliation: Tauber Bioinformatics Research Center, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel.
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authors.affiliation: BGI-Tech, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
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authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Genetics, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
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authors.lastname: Hankeln
authors.affiliation: BGI-Tech, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.
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authors.lastname: Gorbunova
authors.affiliation: 1] BGI-Tech, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China [2] Department of Computer Science, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
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authors.affiliation: BGI-Tech, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
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authors.affiliation: China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Stress Biology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York 14263, USA.
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authors.affiliation: China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
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authors.affiliation: BGI-Tech, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
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authors.affiliation: The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel.
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authors.affiliation: BGI-Tech, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
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authors.affiliation: The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel.
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authors.lastname: Knisbacher
authors.affiliation: BGI-Tech, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
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authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel.
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authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3DA, UK.
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authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3DA, UK.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701, Korea.
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authors.affiliation: Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Genetics, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
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authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Genetics, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
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authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Genetics, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.
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authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, Maguy-Glass Chair in Physics of Complex Systems, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
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authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel.
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authors.affiliation: School of Computer Science & State Key Laboratory of High Performance Computing, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China.
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authors.affiliation: School of Computer Science & State Key Laboratory of High Performance Computing, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders
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authors.affiliation: China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
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authors.affiliation: 1] Tauber Bioinformatics Research Center, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel [2] Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel.
authors.forename: Leonid
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authors.lastname: Brodsky
authors.affiliation: 1] BGI-Tech, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China [2] Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark [3] Princess Al Jawhara Center of Excellence in the Research of Hereditary Disorders, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21441, Saudi Arabia.
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mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D003624:Darkness; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D016678:Genome; D006935:Hypercapnia; D000860:Hypoxia; D017393:RNA Editing / Q000235:genetics; D020086:Short Interspersed Nucleotide Elements; D046308:Spalax / Q000235:genetics*; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics*