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Lee FS. Hypoxia Inducible Factor pathway proteins in high-altitude mammals. Trends Biochem Sci 2024; 49:79-92. [PMID: 38036336 PMCID: PMC10841901 DOI: 10.1016/j.tibs.2023.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Revised: 11/01/2023] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023]
Abstract
Humans and other mammals inhabit hypoxic high-altitude locales. In many of these species, genes under positive selection include ones in the Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF) pathway. One is PHD2 (EGLN1), which encodes for a key oxygen sensor. Another is HIF2A (EPAS1), which encodes for a PHD2-regulated transcription factor. Recent studies have provided insights into mechanisms for these high-altitude alleles. These studies have (i) shown that selection can occur on nonconserved, unstructured regions of proteins, (ii) revealed that high altitude-associated amino acid substitutions can have differential effects on protein-protein interactions, (iii) provided evidence for convergent evolution by different molecular mechanisms, and (iv) suggested that mutations in different genes can complement one another to produce a set of adaptive phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frank S Lee
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
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Jorgensen K, Song D, Weinstein J, Garcia OA, Pearson LN, Inclán M, Rivera-Chira M, León-Velarde F, Kiyamu M, Brutsaert TD, Bigham AW, Lee FS. High-Altitude Andean H194R HIF2A Allele Is a Hypomorphic Allele. Mol Biol Evol 2023; 40:msad162. [PMID: 37463421 PMCID: PMC10370452 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msad162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2023] [Revised: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 07/03/2023] [Indexed: 07/20/2023] Open
Abstract
For over 10,000 years, Andeans have resided at high altitude where the partial pressure of oxygen challenges human survival. Recent studies have provided evidence for positive selection acting in Andeans on the HIF2A (also known as EPAS1) locus, which encodes for a central transcription factor of the hypoxia-inducible factor pathway. However, the precise mechanism by which this allele might lead to altitude-adaptive phenotypes, if any, is unknown. By analyzing whole genome sequencing data from 46 high-coverage Peruvian Andean genomes, we confirm evidence for positive selection acting on HIF2A and a unique pattern of variation surrounding the Andean-specific single nucleotide variant (SNV), rs570553380, which encodes for an H194R amino acid substitution in HIF-2α. Genotyping the Andean-associated SNV rs570553380 in a group of 299 Peruvian Andeans from Cerro de Pasco, Peru (4,338 m), reveals a positive association with increased fraction of exhaled nitric oxide, a marker of nitric oxide biosynthesis. In vitro assays show that the H194R mutation impairs binding of HIF-2α to its heterodimeric partner, aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator. A knockin mouse model bearing the H194R mutation in the Hif2a gene displays decreased levels of hypoxia-induced pulmonary Endothelin-1 transcripts and protection against hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension. We conclude the Andean H194R HIF2A allele is a hypomorphic (partial loss of function) allele.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelsey Jorgensen
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Daisheng Song
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Julien Weinstein
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Obed A Garcia
- Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Laurel N Pearson
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA
| | - María Inclán
- División de. Estudios Políticos, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico
| | - Maria Rivera-Chira
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Fisiológicas, Laboratorios de Investigación y Desarrollo, Facultad de Ciencias y Filosofía, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Lima, Peru
| | - Fabiola León-Velarde
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Fisiológicas, Laboratorios de Investigación y Desarrollo, Facultad de Ciencias y Filosofía, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Lima, Peru
| | - Melisa Kiyamu
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Fisiológicas, Laboratorios de Investigación y Desarrollo, Facultad de Ciencias y Filosofía, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Lima, Peru
| | - Tom D Brutsaert
- Department of Exercise Science, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - Abigail W Bigham
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Frank S Lee
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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Samaja M, Ottolenghi S. The Oxygen Cascade from Atmosphere to Mitochondria as a Tool to Understand the (Mal)adaptation to Hypoxia. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24043670. [PMID: 36835089 PMCID: PMC9960749 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24043670] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Revised: 02/05/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Hypoxia is a life-threatening challenge for about 1% of the world population, as well as a contributor to high morbidity and mortality scores in patients affected by various cardiopulmonary, hematological, and circulatory diseases. However, the adaptation to hypoxia represents a failure for a relevant portion of the cases as the pathways of potential adaptation often conflict with well-being and generate diseases that in certain areas of the world still afflict up to one-third of the populations living at altitude. To help understand the mechanisms of adaptation and maladaptation, this review examines the various steps of the oxygen cascade from the atmosphere to the mitochondria distinguishing the patterns related to physiological (i.e., due to altitude) and pathological (i.e., due to a pre-existing disease) hypoxia. The aim is to assess the ability of humans to adapt to hypoxia in a multidisciplinary approach that correlates the function of genes, molecules, and cells with the physiologic and pathological outcomes. We conclude that, in most cases, it is not hypoxia by itself that generates diseases, but rather the attempts to adapt to the hypoxia condition. This underlies the paradigm shift that when adaptation to hypoxia becomes excessive, it translates into maladaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele Samaja
- MAGI GROUP, San Felice del Benaco, 25010 Brescia, Italy
- Correspondence:
| | - Sara Ottolenghi
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy
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Gray OA, Yoo J, Sobreira DR, Jousma J, Witonsky D, Sakabe NJ, Peng YJ, Prabhakar NR, Fang Y, Nobréga MA, Di Rienzo A. A pleiotropic hypoxia-sensitive EPAS1 enhancer is disrupted by adaptive alleles in Tibetans. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eade1942. [PMID: 36417539 PMCID: PMC9683707 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade1942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2022] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
In Tibetans, noncoding alleles in EPAS1-whose protein product hypoxia-inducible factor 2α (HIF-2α) drives the response to hypoxia-carry strong signatures of positive selection; however, their functional mechanism has not been systematically examined. Here, we report that high-altitude alleles disrupt the activity of four EPAS1 enhancers in one or more cell types. We further characterize one enhancer (ENH5) whose activity is both allele specific and hypoxia dependent. Deletion of ENH5 results in down-regulation of EPAS1 and HIF-2α targets in acute hypoxia and in a blunting of the transcriptional response to sustained hypoxia. Deletion of ENH5 in mice results in dysregulation of gene expression across multiple tissues. We propose that pleiotropic adaptive effects of the Tibetan alleles in EPAS1 underlie the strong selective signal at this gene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivia A. Gray
- Department of Human Genetics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Jennifer Yoo
- Department of Human Genetics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
- Institute for Integrative Physiology and Center for Systems Biology of O2 Sensing, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
- Department of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Débora R. Sobreira
- Department of Human Genetics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Jordan Jousma
- Department of Human Genetics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - David Witonsky
- Department of Human Genetics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Noboru J. Sakabe
- Department of Human Genetics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Ying-Jie Peng
- Institute for Integrative Physiology and Center for Systems Biology of O2 Sensing, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Nanduri R. Prabhakar
- Institute for Integrative Physiology and Center for Systems Biology of O2 Sensing, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Yun Fang
- Department of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Marcelo A. Nobréga
- Department of Human Genetics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Anna Di Rienzo
- Department of Human Genetics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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Moya EA. EPAS1/HIF-2α: a key regulator for chronic hypoxia across species. J Physiol 2022; 600:4053-4054. [PMID: 35932457 PMCID: PMC9481713 DOI: 10.1113/jp283554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Esteban A Moya
- Section of Physiology, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, La Jolla, CA, USA
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