Characterizing the reproductive transcriptomic correlates of acute dehydration in males in the desert-adapted rodent, Peromyscus eremicus

Background: The understanding of genomic and physiological mechanisms related to how organisms living in extreme environments survive and reproduce is an outstanding question facing evolutionary and organismal biologists. One interesting example of adaptation is related to the survival of mammals in deserts, where extreme water limitation is common. Research on desert rodent adaptations has focused predominantly on adaptations related to surviving dehydration, while potential reproductive physiology adaptations for acute and chronic dehydration have been relatively neglected. This study aims to explore the reproductive consequences of acute dehydration by utilizing RNAseq data in the desert-specialized cactus mouse (Peromyscus eremicus).

Results: We exposed 22 male cactus mice to either acute dehydration or control (fully hydrated) treatment conditions, quasimapped testes-derived reads to a cactus mouse testes transcriptome, and then evaluated patterns of differential transcript and ...

研究背景：解析极端环境生物生存与繁殖相关的基因组及生理机制，是进化生物学与机体生物学领域研究者面临的核心科学命题。其中极具研究价值的适应性演化案例之一，为哺乳动物在沙漠极端缺水环境中的存活策略。当前针对荒漠啮齿动物适应性的研究，多聚焦于其抵御脱水胁迫的生存适配机制，而急性与慢性脱水状态下潜在的繁殖生理适应性却长期被相对忽视。本研究以特化栖息于沙漠环境的仙人掌小鼠（Peromyscus eremicus）为实验模型，借助RNA测序（RNAseq）数据，探究急性脱水对其繁殖功能的影响。
研究结果：我们将22只雄性仙人掌小鼠分为两组，分别施加急性脱水处理与对照（完全水合）处理；将睾丸组织来源的测序读段准映射至仙人掌小鼠睾丸转录组，随后对差异转录本及……