ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2009
Evolution of muscle phenotype for extreme high altitude flight in the bar-headed goose.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers.
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Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed.
- Plasticity and evolved changes in mitochondrial physiology across skeletal muscles of high-altitude deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus).The Journal of experimental biology · 2026Article
- Diverse mitogenomic variations contribute to population differentiation in Eurasian tree sparrows (Zoological research · 2026Article
- Comparative mechanisms for OJournal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2025Article
- Gas exchange, oxygen transport and metabolism in high-altitude waterfowl.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- A comparison of seasonal flexibility in pectoralis muscle fiber type and enzyme activity in migratory and resident sparrow species.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
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- Evolutionary ecophysiology in extreme environments under a global change scenario.Conservation physiology · 2025Article
- Physiological and Genetic Basis of High-Altitude Indigenous Animals' Adaptation to Hypoxic Environments.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Review
- Migration increases mitochondrial oxidative capacity without increasing reactive oxygen species emission in a songbird.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
- Evolved changes in phenotype across skeletal muscles in deer mice native to high altitude.American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2024Article
- Identification and characterization of multiple novel picornaviruses in fecal samples of bar-headed goose.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Article
- Genomic Variation, Population History, and Long-Term Genetic Adaptation to High Altitudes in Tibetan Partridge (Perdix hodgsoniae).Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- Migratory songbirds exhibit seasonal modulation of the oxygen cascade.The Journal of experimental biology · 2023Article
- Drivers of plateau adaptability in cashmere goats revealed by genomic and transcriptomic analyses.BMC genomics · 2023Article
- How does density of the inner mitochondrial membrane influence mitochondrial performance?American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2023Review
- Comparative transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis reveals pectoralis highland adaptation across altitudinal songbirds.Integrative zoology · 2022Article
- Parallel genomic responses to historical climate change and high elevation in East Asian songbirds.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- High-altitude adaptation in vertebrates as revealed by mitochondrial genome analyses.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Effects of temperature on the locomotor performance and contraction properties of skeletal muscle from two Phrynocephalus lizards at high and low altitude.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2021Review
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Bar-headed geese migrate over the Himalayas at up to 9000 m elevation, but it is unclear how they sustain the high metabolic rates needed for flight in the severe hypoxia at these altitudes. To better understand the basis for this physiological feat, we compared the flight muscle phenotype of bar-headed geese with that of low altitude birds (barnacle geese, pink-footed geese, greylag geese and mallard ducks). Bar-headed goose muscle had a higher proportion of oxidative fibres. This increased muscle aerobic capacity, because the mitochondrial volume densities of each fibre type were similar between species. However, bar-headed geese had more capillaries per muscle fibre than expected from this increase in aerobic capacity, as well as higher capillary densities and more homogeneous capillary spacing. Their mitochondria were also redistributed towards the subsarcolemma (cell membrane) and adjacent to capillaries. These alterations should improve O(2) diffusion capacity from the blood and reduce intracellular O(2) diffusion distances, respectively. The unique differences in bar-headed geese were much greater than the minor variation between low altitude species and existed without prior exercise or hypoxia exposure, and the correlation of these traits to flight altitude was independent of phylogeny. In contrast, isolated mitochondria had similar respiratory capacities, O(2) kinetics and phosphorylation efficiencies across species. Bar-headed geese have therefore evolved for exercise in hypoxia by enhancing the O(2) supply to flight muscle.
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