Comparative transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis reveals pectoralis highland adaptation across altitudinal songbirds.

ABSTRACT: Pectoralis phenotypic variation plays a fundamental role in locomotion and thermogenesis in highland birds. However, its regulatory and metabolic mechanisms remain enigmatic to date. Here, we integrated phenomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic approaches to determine muscle variation and its underpinning mechanisms across altitudinal songbirds. Phenomics confirmed that all highland birds had considerable increases in muscle oxidative capacity, capillarity, and mitochondrial abundance in our study. Correspondingly, transcriptomic analyses found that differentially expressed genes in phenotype-associated modules enriched for blood vessel, muscle structure development, and mitochondrial organization. Despite similar traits and functional enrichments across highland birds, different mechanism

SUBMITTER: Xiong Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9786770 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature