The Expression Plasticity of Hypoxia Related Genes in High-Altitude and Plains Nanorana parkeri Populations

Abstract

For species that have a broad geographic distribution, adaptive variation may be attributable to gene expression plasticity. Nanorana parkeri is an anuran endemic to the southern Tibetan Plateau where it has an extensive altitudinal range (2850 to 5100 m asp. Low oxygen concentration is one of the main environmental characteristics of the Tibetan Plateau. Hypoxia-inducible factor alpha subunits (HIF-1 alpha and HIF-2 alpha, encoded by Endothelial PAS domain protein 1 (EPAS1)) and associated genes (e.g., vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and Erythropoietin (EPO)) play crucial roles in maintaining oxygen homeostasis. In this study, we compared the expression of HIF-1A, VEGF, EPAS1 and EPO mRNA between two populations of N. parkeri: one population inhabiting the native high altitudes, and the second living in, and being acclimated to, the lower plains (70 m asl). The expression of HIF-1A, VEGF and EPAS1 mRNA in the high altitude population were significantly higher than in the acclimated population, whereas there was no significant difference for EPO between two groups. Our results indicated that gene expression plasticity may make significant contributions to local adaptation of species that have broad altitudinal distributions. In addition, we deepen our understanding of the adaptive potential of this species by evaluating the experiments in the scope of its evolutionary history.