Cardiomyocyte communication and its gene expression difference be-tween different altitudes yaks based on single cell RNA-seq data
As the most important organ for blood circulation,the heart plays an important role in the environmental adap-tation of animals.Cardiomyocyte is the main functional cell in the animal heart,however,gene expression changes and cellular communication in cardiomyocytes of yaks living at high altitudes are still unclear.To study the effect of yak car-diomyocytes in the process of adaptation to the plateau environment,yaks in high altitude areas(Qilian,Qinghai,altitude 4000 m)and low altitude areas(Xunhua,Qinghai,altitude 2 600 m)were taken as research objects,and the cellular com-munications and ligand-target gene regulations in cardiomyocytes and other cells were predicted based on the 10× single-cell RNA sequencing data.In addition,the functions of differentially expressed genes(DEGs)between different altitude yak cardiomyocytes were annotated.The results showed that yak cardiomyocytes were most highly correlated with the endothelial cells and epithelial cells.The expression level of ligand and receptor of CD74_COAP and CD74_APP was relatively higher in the cardiomyocyte-dendritic cell and cardiomyocyte-macrophage,the vitality of ligands and receptors was relatively higher in TNF signal pathway;The immune related pathway ligands,such as PTPRC,PECAM1,ITGB2,ANXA1,BDNF had a significant influence on all'cell pairs'and the PI3K-Akt signal pathway showed the highest po-tential score in ligand-target gene regulation;The functions of DEGs between high and low altitude yak cardiomyocytes were mainly enriched in metabolic pathways as the oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis pathways.These results suggest that yaks may maintain their homeostasis by strengthening the connection between cardiomyocytes and other cells and regulating the processes related to immune action.Meanwhile,high-altitude yaks enhance their aerobic and an-aerobic metabolism of cardiomyocytes to acquire more energy to adapt to the harsh environment of high altitude.