Physiological and genetic convergence supports hypoxia resistance in high-altitude songbirds.

ABSTRACT: Skeletal muscle plays a central role in regulating glucose uptake and body metabolism; however, highland hypoxia is a severe challenge to aerobic metabolism in small endotherms. Therefore, understanding the physiological and genetic convergence of muscle hypoxia tolerance has a potential broad range of medical implications. Here we report and experimentally validate a common physiological mechanism across multiple high-altitude songbirds that improvement in insulin sensitivity contributes to glucose homeostasis, low oxygen consumption, and relative activity, and thus increases body weight. By contrast, low-altitude songbirds exhibit muscle loss, glucose intolerance, and increase energy expenditures under hypoxia. This adaptive mechanism is attributable to convergent missense mutations in t

SUBMITTER: Xiong Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7793309 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature