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Abstract: Erythropoietin (EPO) is a glycoprotein hormone, expressed mainly in fetus liver and adult kidneys. EPO plays an important role in enhancing red blood cell formation in bone marrow under hypoxia. Plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi), an subterranean burrowing endemic rodent inhabiting areas of 2 800–4 200m above sea level on Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, is a typical high hypoxia tolerant mammal with high ratio of oxygen utilization in adaptation to the harsh plateau environment. To investigate the possible mechanisms of adaptation of plateau zokor EPO to high altitude, the complete cDNA and amino acid sequences of plateau zokor EPO have been described. Phylogenetic tree of Epo showed the convergence of the Spalax and Myospalax, indicating that, the convergent evolution was driven by similar hypoxic ecological niches. Our results showed that some common sites under positive selection in zokor (116M and 144A) and Spalax (102R, 116M, 144A and 152P) are the important sites for Epo biological activity. This study thus reports a gene level observation which may be involved in adaptation to underground life at high altitude. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Mandarin vole ( Lasiopodomys mandarinus ) is a subterranean rodent that is often used as a model for studying subterranean hypoxic stress in mammals. However the taxonomy of this species is still in dispute. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has long been used for phylogenetic reconstruction and, in this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of L. mandarinus mandarinus was sequenced. Our results showed that the mitochondrial genome of L. m. mandarinus is a circular molecule of 16,367 bp, which contains 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA and 2 rRNA genes. Except for the 8 tRNA and ND6 genes, all other mitochondrial genes are encoded on the heavy strand. We also analyzed the phylogenetic position of L. mandarinus in respect to the tribe Arvicolini using the sequence of complete Cytb gene, 2rRNA genes and 12 protein-coding genes, and maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. Our results gave further support to the species status of L. mandarinus and the generic status of Lasiopodomys . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]