| dna sequence variation in the mitochondrial control region of subterranean mole rats, spalax ehrenbergi superspecies, in israel. | the complete mitochondrial control region was sequenced for 60 individuals representing different populations for each of the four species of the subterranean mole rat spalax ehrenbergi superspecies in israel: spalax galili (2n = 52), s. golani (2n = 54), s. carmeli (2n = 58), and s. judaei (2n = 60). the control region of all species and populations is very similar both in length (979 to 983 bp) and in base composition. as in agreement with previous surveys on mitochondrial control regions on m ... | 2003 | 12679542 |
| hypoxic stress tolerance of the blind subterranean mole rat: expression of erythropoietin and hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha. | blind subterranean mole rats (spalax, spalacidae) evolved adaptive strategies to cope with hypoxia that climaxes during winter floods in their burrows. by using real-time pcr, we compared gene expression of erythropoietin (epo), a key regulator of circulating erythrocytes, and hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (hif-1 alpha), epo expression inducer, in the kidneys of spalax and white rats, rattus norvegicus. our results show significantly higher, quicker, and longer responses to different o(2) lev ... | 2004 | 15210955 |
| mammalian microevolution in action: adaptive edaphic genomic divergence in blind subterranean mole-rats. | genomic diversity of anonymous regions across the genome, most probably including coding and noncoding amplified fragment length polymorphisms (aflps), was examined in 20 individuals of the blind mole-rat, spalax galili, one of four allospecies of the spalax ehrenbergi superspecies of blind subterranean mole-rats in israel. we compared 10 individuals from two nearby populations in upper galilee, separated by only a few dozen to hundreds of metres and living in two sharply contrasting ecologies: ... | 2004 | 15252970 |
| emmonsiosis of subterranean rodents (bathyergidae, spalacidae) in africa and israel. | the presence of adiaspores of the fungal genus emmonsia was examined in the lungs of 85 mole rats representing 3 subterranean genera: blind mole rats (spalax galili and s. golani) from israel, ansell's mole-rats (cryptomys anselli) from zambia, and silvery mole-rats (heliophobius argenteocinereus) from malawi and zambia. emmonsiosis was found in 28% of the blind mole rats, 100% of the ansell's mole-rats, but in none of the silvery mole-rats. infection in african mole-rats was caused by emmonsia ... | 2005 | 16422298 |
| an extracellular region of the erythropoietin receptor of the subterranean blind mole rat spalax enhances receptor maturation. | erythropoietic functions of erythropoietin (epo) are mediated by its receptor (epo-r), which is present on the cell surface of erythroid progenitors and induced by hypoxia. we focused on epo-r from spalax galili (sepo-r), one of the four israeli species of the subterranean blind mole rat, spalax ehrenbergi superspecies, as a special natural animal model of high tolerance to hypoxia. led by the intriguing observation that most of the mouse epo-r (mepo-r) is retained in the endoplasmic reticulum ( ... | 2007 | 17724331 |
| transcriptome sequencing of the blind subterranean mole rat, spalax galili: utility and potential for the discovery of novel evolutionary patterns. | the blind subterranean mole rat (spalax ehrenbergi superspecies) is a model animal for survival under extreme environments due to its ability to live in underground habitats under severe hypoxic stress and darkness. here we report the transcriptome sequencing of spalax galili, a chromosomal type of s. ehrenbergi. cdna pools from muscle and brain tissues isolated from animals exposed to hypoxic and normoxic conditions were sequenced using sanger, gs flx, and gs flx titanium technologies. assembly ... | 2011 | 21857902 |
| methionine sulfoxide reductases and methionine sulfoxide in the subterranean mole rat (spalax): characterization of expression under various oxygen conditions. | the blind subterranean mole rat (spalax ehrenbergi) exhibits a relatively long life span, which is attributed to an efficient antioxidant defense affording protection against accumulation of oxidative modifications of proteins. methionine residues can be oxidized to methionine sulfoxide (meto) and then enzymatically reduced by the methionine sulfoxide reductase (msr) system. in the current study we have isolated the cdna sequences of the spalax msr genes as well as 23 additional selenoproteins a ... | 2011 | 22230185 |
| transcriptome sequencing and phylogenomic resolution within spalacidae (rodentia). | subterranean mammals have been of great interest for evolutionary biologists because of their highly specialized traits for the life underground. owing to the convergence of morphological traits and the incongruence of molecular evidence, the phylogenetic relationships among three subfamilies myospalacinae (zokors), spalacinae (blind mole rats) and rhizomyinae (bamboo rats) within the family spalacidae remain unresolved. here, we performed de novo transcriptome sequencing of four rna-seq librari ... | 2014 | 24438217 |
| [the anti-tumor mechanisms in long-lived rodents]. | rodents, including the nude mice with congenital aplasia of the thymus, cancer-resistant naked mole rat (heterocephalus glaber) and blind mole rat (spalax galili), are important model organisms that are widely used in biomedical research. the aging process is closely related to cancer incidence in mammals and the aging degree is positively correlated with the risk of cancer. since rodents account for 40% of mammals, study of the unique antitumor mechanism in long-lived rodents is very important. ... | 2016 | 27232489 |
| habitat and burrow system characteristics of the blind mole rat spalax galili in an area of supposed sympatric speciation. | a costly search for food in subterranean rodents resulted in various adaptations improving their foraging success under given ecological conditions. in spalax ehrenbergi superspecies, adaptations to local ecological conditions can promote speciation, which was recently supposed to occur even in sympatry at sites where two soil types of contrasting characteristics abut each other. quantitative description of ecological conditions in such a site has been, nevertheless, missing. we measured charact ... | 2015 | 26192762 |
| they live in the land down under: thyroid function and basal metabolic rate in the blind mole rat, spalax. | the israeli blind subterranean mole rat (spalax ehrenbergi superspecies) lives in sealed underground burrows under extreme, hypoxic conditions. the four israeli spalax allospecies have adapted to different climates, the cool-humid (spalax galili, 2 n = 52 chromosomes), semihumid (s. golani, 2 n = 54) north regions, warm-humid (s. carmeli, 2 n = 58) central region and the warm-dry s. judaei, 2 n = 60) southern regions. a dramatic interspecies decline in basal metabolic rate (bmr) from north to so ... | 2014 | 24066698 |
| adaptation of pelage color and pigment variations in israeli subterranean blind mole rats, spalax ehrenbergi [corrected]. | concealing coloration in rodents is well established. however, only a few studies examined how soil color, pelage color, hair-melanin content, and genetics (i.e., the causal chain) synergize to configure it. this study investigates the causal chain of dorsal coloration in israeli subterranean blind mole rats, spalax ehrenbergi. | 2013 | 23935991 |
| transcriptome, genetic editing, and microrna divergence substantiate sympatric speciation of blind mole rat, spalax. | incipient sympatric speciation in blind mole rat, spalax galili, in israel, caused by sharp ecological divergence of abutting chalk-basalt ecologies, has been proposed previously based on mitochondrial and whole-genome nuclear dna. here, we present new evidence, including transcriptome, dna editing, microrna, and codon usage, substantiating earlier evidence for adaptive divergence in the abutting chalk and basalt populations. genetic divergence, based on the previous and new evidence, is ongoing ... | 2016 | 27339131 |
| mechanisms regulating proteostasis are involved in sympatric speciation of the blind mole rat, spalax galili. | genome-wide analysis demonstrates extensive genomic adaptive complexes involved in sympatric speciation between blind mole rats (spalax galili) in abutting populations living in basalt and chalk soils. among the gene ontology (go) enrichment, musculature and metabolism stood out in basalt dwellers while nutrition and neurogenetics were highlighted in chalk residents. measurements of mechanisms regulating protein homeostasis inspired by these go terms suggest that at the proteomic level there is ... | 2016 | 27050459 |
| adaptive methylation regulation of p53 pathway in sympatric speciation of blind mole rats, spalax. | epigenetic modifications play significant roles in adaptive evolution. the tumor suppressor p53, well known for controlling cell fate and maintaining genomic stability, is much less known as a master gene in environmental adaptation involving methylation modifications. the blind subterranean mole rat spalax eherenbergi superspecies in israel consists of four species that speciated peripatrically. remarkably, the northern galilee species spalax galili (2n = 52) underwent adaptive ecological sympa ... | 2016 | 26858405 |
| the captured retroviral envelope syncytin-a and syncytin-b genes are conserved in the spalacidae together with hemotrichorial placentation. | syncytins are fusogenic envelope (env) genes of retroviral origin that have been captured for a function in placentation. multiple independent events of syncytin gene capture were found to have occurred in primates, rodents, lagomorphs, carnivores, and ruminants. in the mouse, two syncytin-a and -b genes are present, which trigger the formation of the two-layered placental syncytiotrophoblast at the maternal-fetal interface, a structure classified as hemotrichorial. here, we identified syncytin- ... | 2014 | 25339103 |
| genome-wide adaptive complexes to underground stresses in blind mole rats spalax. | 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 s ... | 2014 | 24892994 |
| possible incipient sympatric ecological speciation in blind mole rats (spalax). | sympatric speciation has been controversial since it was first proposed as a mode of speciation. subterranean blind mole rats (spalacidae) are considered to speciate allopatrically or peripatrically. here, we report a possible incipient sympatric adaptive ecological speciation in spalax galili (2n = 52). the study microsite (0.04 km(2)) is sharply subdivided geologically, edaphically, and ecologically into abutting barrier-free ecologies divergent in rock, soil, and vegetation types. the pleisto ... | 2013 | 23359700 |
| cross talk between s-nitrosylation and s-glutathionylation in control of the na,k-atpase regulation in hypoxic heart. | oxygen-induced regulation of na,k-atpase was studied in rat myocardium. in rat heart, na,k-atpase responded to hypoxia with a dose-dependent inhibition in hydrolytic activity. inhibition of na,k-atpase in hypoxic rat heart was associated with decrease in nitric oxide (no) production and progressive oxidative stress. accumulation of oxidized glutathione (gssg) and decrease in no availability in hypoxic rat heart were followed by a decrease in s-nitrosylation and upregulation of s-glutathionylatio ... | 2012 | 22982781 |
| convergent reduction of v1r genes in subterranean rodents. | vomeronasal type 1 receptor genes (v1rs) are expected to detect intraspecific pheromones. it is believed that rodents rely heavily on pheromonal communication mediated by v1rs, but pheromonal signals are thought to be confined in subterranean rodents that live in underground burrows. thus, subterranean rodents may show a contrasting mode of v1r evolution compared with their superterranean relatives. | 2019 | 31470793 |
| do subterranean mammals use the earth's magnetic field as a heading indicator to dig straight tunnels? | subterranean rodents are able to dig long straight tunnels. keeping the course of such "runways" is important in the context of optimal foraging strategies and natal or mating dispersal. these tunnels are built in the course of a long time, and in social species, by several animals. although the ability to keep the course of digging has already been described in the 1950s, its proximate mechanism could still not be satisfactorily explained. here, we analyzed the directional orientation of 68 bur ... | 2018 | 30402349 |