bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/382895; this version posted August 2, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. Inter-species differences in response to hypoxia in iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes from humans and chimpanzees Michelle C. Ward1* and Yoav Gilad1,2* 1Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA 2Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA *Correspondence should be addressed to M.C.W (
[email protected]), and Y.G (
[email protected]). 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/382895; this version posted August 2, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. Abstract Despite anatomical similarities, there appear to be differences in susceptibility to cardiovascular disease between primates. For example, humans are prone to ischemia-induced myocardial infarction unlike chimpanzees, which tend to suffer from fibrotic disease. However, it is challenging to determine the relative contributions of genetic and environmental effects to complex disease phenotypes within and between primates. The ability to differentiate cardiomyocytes from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), now allows for direct inter-species comparisons of the gene regulatory response to disease-relevant perturbations. A consequence of ischemia is oxygen deprivation.