12/28/2020
Research Article
Physiological and genetic convergence supports hypoxia resistance in high-altitude songbirds
Xiong et al. find that highland native songbirds (snowfinches) have greater body and muscle mass with an increase in insulin sensitivity and aerobic metabolism comparing to lowland songbirds (tree sparrows). Three genes with high genetic divergence between altitudinal tree sparrows have convergent nonsynonymous substitutions in snow finches and are related to hypoxia.
Image credit: Steve Childs
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