Comparison of Mitochondrial Genome Expression Differences among Four Skink Species Distributed at Different Latitudes under Low-Temperature Stress

Continual climate change strongly influences temperature conditions worldwide, making ectothermic animals as suitable species for studying the potential impact of climate change on global biodiversity. However, the study of how lizards distributed at different latitudes respond to climate change at the transcriptome level is still insufficient. According to the Climatic Variability Hypothesis (CVH), the range of climate fluctuations experienced by terrestrial animals throughout the year increases with latitude, so individuals at higher latitudes should exhibit greater thermal plasticity to cope with fluctuating environments. Mitochondria, as the energy center of vertebrate cells, may indicate species' plasticity through the sensitivity of gene expression. In this study, we focused on the changes in transcript levels of liver mitochondrial protein-coding genes (PCGs) in skinks from the genus <i>Plestiodon</i> (<i>P. capito</i> and <i>P. elegans</i>) and the genus <i>Scincella</i> (<i>S. modesta</i> and <i>S. reevesii</i>) under low-temperature conditions of 8 °C, compared to the control group at 25 °C. Species within the same genus of skinks exhibit different latitudinal distribution patterns. We found that the two <i>Plestiodon</i> species, <i>P. elegans</i> and <i>P. capito</i>, employ a metabolic depression strategy (decreased transcript levels) to cope with low temperatures. In contrast, the two <i>Scincella</i> species show markedly different patterns: <i>S. modesta</i> exhibits significant increases in the transcript levels of six genes (metabolic compensation), while in <i>S. reevesii</i>, only two mitochondrial genes are downregulated (metabolic depression) compared to the control group. We also found that <i>P. capito</i> and <i>S. modesta</i>, which live at mid-to-high latitudes, exhibit stronger adaptive responses and plasticity at the mitochondrial gene level compared to <i>P. elegans</i> and <i>S. reevesii</i>, which live at lower latitudes. We suggest that this enhanced adaptability corresponds to more significant changes in a greater number of genes (plasticity genes).