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

Abstract

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.

Altitude shapes gut microbiome composition accounting for diet, thyroid hormone levels, and host genetics in a subterranean blind mole rat

“…Even more striking is the complete absence from our 16S dataset of the anaerobic bacterial genus Prevotella, which was previously found to be strongly associated with increasing altitude in wild house mice [47], wild pikas [109], high altitude yaks, in Tibetan sheep [110], and in humans [108,111], but see [106]. The Prevotella is also present at ~ 3.5% in subterranean plateau zokors -another member of the family Spalacidae living at high altitudes [112]. Our results as well as the previous studies suggest that the absence of Prevotella from BMR's GM may actually be a common feature of the wild populations of these rodents: i.e.…”

High-altitude-induced alterations in intestinal microbiota

“…The intestine harbors a diverse microbiota, comprising over 400 species of bacteria, with approximately 99% being obligate anaerobes ( Hu et al, 2023 ). The intestinal microbiota forms a mutualistic ecosystem, crucial for human health, constituting the intestinal barrier.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that the composition of intestinal microbiota in populations living in different regions varies due to unique living environments, genetic backgrounds, or dietary habits ( Zhang et al, 2015 , 2018 ; Yadav et al, 2016 ; Geng et al, 2023 ; Hu et al, 2023 ). An Indian study investigated the composition of intestinal microbiota in healthy adults living in high-altitude and low-altitude regions ( das et al, 2018 ).…”