Abstract
Erythropoietin (EPO) is a glycoprotein hormone involved in proerythropoiesis, antioxidation, and antiapoptosis. It also contributes to cellular immune function in high-altitude species, such as the schizothoracine fish Gymnocypris dobula. Six mutation sites previously identified in EPO from G. dobula (GD-EPO) were injected into zebrafish embryos, and their effects were compared with EPO from the low-altitude schizothoracine Schizothorax prenanti. The key mutation site in GD-EPO was identified as H131S. Under hypoxic conditions, the levels of superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde were decreased, whereas that of nitric oxide was increased in zebrafish injected with GD-EPO compared with those injected with S. prenanti-EPO (SP-EPO). The results suggest that EPO in high-altitude schizothoracine species is both antioxidative and antiapoptotic, driven by the H131S mutation site. Thus, this enhanced the ability of this species to adapt to the high-altitude hypoxic environment. These results provide a basis for investigating further the hypoxia adaptation mechanisms of teleosts.
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The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
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We would like to thank all of the people in the Yadong Forestry Bureau, Tibet, for the sample collection.
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This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 31702312), the National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2018YFD0900601), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 31772826).
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Qin Zhang carried out most of the experiments. Congcong Wang designed the methods and experiments, interpreted the results, and finished the discussion. Yang Liu prepared the materials and partly worked on the experiments. Qianghua Xu was responsible for overall supervision and participated in coordination. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
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Wang, C., Zhang, Q., Liu, Y. et al. Characterization of EPO H131S as a key mutation site in the hypoxia-adaptive evolution of Gymnocypris dobula. Fish Physiol Biochem 48, 723–733 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-022-01080-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-022-01080-6