Yak genome could hold key to survival in polluted cities

Scientists at the National Research Centre on Yak (NRC-Y) are close to cracking the signature gene of the yak, the only animal comfortable in sub-zero conditions and at altitudes where oxygen level is 40% less than in the plains. NRC-Y, an Indian Council of Agriculture Research institute, was established in 1989 at Arunachal Pradesh's Dirang located 327km west of state capital Itanagar. It focuses on the yak and the polyandrous brokpas, or yak farmers, along India's Himalayan belt from Ladakh eastward. The average oxygen content in air at sea level is 20% – almost half than in the age of dinosaurs – but the level in polluted cities is under 15%. The outcome of the research on yak, researchers say, will be vital when oxygen levels fall below 12%. The yak can survive in 11%.