Back

Molecular mechanisms of seasonal brain shrinkage and regrowth inSorex araneus

Thomas, W. R.; Dechmann, D. K. N.; Nieland, J.; Elverfeldt, D.; Carlson, D.; Baldoni, C.; Holm-Jacobsen, J.; Muturi, M.; Corthals, A.; Davalos, L.

2023-10-03 genetics
10.1101/2023.10.02.560485 bioRxiv
Show abstract

To meet the challenge of wintering in place many high-latitude small mammals reduce energy demands through hibernation. In contrast, short-lived Eurasian common shrews, Sorex araneus, remain active and shrink, including energy-intensive organs in winter, regrowing in spring in an evolved strategy called Dehnels phenomenon. How this size change is linked to metabolic and regulatory changes to sustain their high metabolism is unknown. We analyzed metabolic, proteomic, and gene expression profiles spanning the entirety of Dehnels seasonal cycle in wild shrews. We show regulatory changes to oxidative phosphorylation and increased fatty acid metabolism during autumn-to-winter shrinkage, as previously found in hibernating species. But in shrews we also found upregulated winter expression of genes involved in gluconeogenesis: the biosynthesis of glucose from non-carbohydrate substrates. Co-expression models revealed changes in size and metabolic gene expression interconnect via FOXO signaling, whose overexpression reduces size and extends lifespan in many model organisms. We propose that while shifts in gluconeogenesis meet the challenge posed by high metabolic rate and active winter lifestyle, FOXO signaling is central to Dehnels phenomenon, with spring downregulation limiting lifespan in these shrews.

Matching journals

The top 7 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

50% of probability mass above

"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.