Spalax

For the French record company, see Spalax (record company).
Spalax
Temporal range: Early Miocene–Recent
Spalax ehrenbergi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Superfamily: Muroidea
Family: Spalacidae
Subfamily: Spalacinae
Gray, 1821
Genus: Spalax
Guldenstaedt, 1770
Species

Spalax antiquus
Spalax arenarius
Spalax carmeli
Spalax ehrenbergi
Spalax galili
Spalax giganteus
Spalax golani
Spalax graecus
Spalax istricus
Spalax judaei
Spalax leucodon
Spalax microphthalmus
Spalax munzuri
Spalax nehringi
Spalax uralensis
Spalax zemni

Synonyms

Nannospalax Palmer, 1903

The genus Spalax contains the blind, fossorial, or subterranean mole-rats, which are one of several types of rodents that are called mole-rats.[1] The hystricognath mole-rats of the family Bathyergidae are completely unrelated, but some other forms are also in the family Spalacidae. Zokors (subfamily Myospalacinae) and root rats and bamboo rats (subfamily Rhizomyinae) are spalacids sometimes referred to as mole-rats. Blind mole-rats are in the family Spalacidae, but are unique enough to be given a separate subfamily, Spalacinae. Alternate opinions on taxonomy consider the blind mole-rats to be the only members of the family Spalacidae and rank other spalacid subfamilies as full families. Other authors group all members of the superfamily Muroidea into a single family, Muridae. The Spalacinae contains two genera and eight species. Some authorities treat all species as belonging to a single genus, Spalax.

Spalax mole-rats are truly blind.[2] Their very small eyes are completely covered by a layer of skin. Unlike many other fossorial rodents, Spalax mole-rats do not have enlarged front claws and do not appear to use their forearms as a primary digging tool. Digging is almost exclusively conducted using their powerful front teeth, which are separated from the rest of the mouth by a flap of skin. When a Spalax mole-rat closes its mouth, its incisors are still on the outside. Blind mole-rats may have evolved from spalacids that used their front limbs to dig, because their olecranon processes are relatively large relative to the rest of their arms. The olecranon process is a part of the ulna bone where muscles attach, and digging animals tend to have enlarged olecranon processes to provide a large surface for their large and powerful muscles to attach.

Because they are completely blind, blind mole-rats have been important laboratory animals in tests on how eyes and eye proteins function.

Resistance to cancer

Studies on the growth of fibroblasts in vitro of Spalax judaei and Spalax golani showed that the process of necrosis replaces the role of the systematic apoptosis normally used in most organisms. Low-oxygen conditions, such as those common in blind mole-rats’ burrows, usually cause cells to undergo apoptosis. In adaptation to higher tendency of cell death, blind mole-rats evolved a mutation in the tumor suppressor protein p53 (which is also used in humans) to prevent cells from undergoing apoptosis. Human cancer patients have similar mutations, and blind mole-rats were thought to be more susceptible to cancer because their cells cannot undergo apoptosis. However, after a specific amount of time (within 3 days according to one study), the cells in blind mole-rats release interferon-beta (which the immune system normally uses to counter viruses) in response to overproliferation of cells caused by the suppression of apoptosis. In this case, the interferon-beta triggers cells to undergo necrosis, and this mechanism also kills cancer cells in blind mole-rats. Because of tumor suppression mechanisms such as this, blind mole-rats and other spalacids are resistant to cancer.[3][4][5]

Classification

Subfamily Spalacinae

References

  1. ↑ Macdonald, D., ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford: Oxford University Books. p. 203. ISBN 0-87196-871-1.
  2. ↑ Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste (1809). Philosophie zoologique ou exposition des considérations relatives à l'histoire naturelle des animaux.
  3. ↑ Saey, Tina Hesman (5 November 2012). "Cancer cells self-destruct in blind mole rats". Science News. Society for Science and the Public. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  4. ↑ Gorbunova, V.; Hine, C.; Tian, X.; Ablaeva, J.; Gudkov, A. V.; Nevo, E.; Seluanov, A. (2012). "Cancer resistance in the blind mole rat is mediated by concerted necrotic cell death mechanism". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109 (47): 19392–6. doi:10.1073/pnas.1217211109. PMC 3511137. PMID 23129611. Retrieved 27 November 2012
  5. ↑ Shams, Imad; Manov, Irena; Malik, Assaf; Band, Mark; Avivi, Aaron (2014). Fighting Cancer Underground: Hypoxia Tolerant Spalax Hides the Key for Treatment. The Plant & Animal Genome XXII Conference.
  6. ↑ Old views and new insights: taxonomic revision of the Bukovina blind mole rat, Spalax graecus (Rodentia: Spalacinae). 2013.
  7. ↑ Old views and new insights: taxonomic revision of the Bukovina blind mole rat, Spalax graecus (Rodentia: Spalacinae). 2013.

Further reading

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