本成果获2008年度青海省科技进步一等奖。获奖人：赵新全、祁得林、杨洁、郭松长、常智杰、李红阁、王德朋、王振龙、赵同标。包括1部中文专著和20余篇研究论文。

　从高寒低氧适应的关键因子——leptin、低氧诱导因子-1α（HIF-1α）、血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）、促红细胞生成素（EPO）入手，探讨了青藏高原代表性土著动物高原鼠兔、鼢鼠和牦牛对高原极端环境的生态适应的分子机制，在理论上取得了重大进展，为缺氧和代谢相关疾病的基础研究及治疗提供了依据；以青藏高原鱼类和牦牛为代表性动物开展的分子系统地理学研究为进一步探讨青藏高原隆升时间和水系演变积累了科学数据，填补了人类文明进程中有蹄类家养动物驯化历史研究的空白，对追溯青藏高原地区人类活动和文明史等具有重要价值。该研究开创了青藏高原地区特有动植物生态适应研究的新局面，为今后青藏高原土著动物进化和适应机制研究提供了新思路并奠定了良好基础。
代表性论文：
1.Hongge Li, Yongming Ren, Songchang Guo, Cheng Long, Depng Wang, Jie Yang, Zhijie Chang, Xinquan Zhao*. 2008. The Protein Level of Hypoxia-inducible Factor-1α is increased in the Plateau Pika(Ochotona curzoniae) Inhabiting High Altitudes. Journal of Experimental Zoology(Part A) 311(2):134-141.
2.Jie Yang, Zhelong Wang, Xinquan Zhao*, Depeng Wang, Delin Qi, Baohong Xu, Yonghong Ren, Huifang Tian. 2008. Natural Selection and Adaptive Evolution of Leptin in the Ochotona Family Driven by the Cold Environmental Stress. PLoS ONE 3(1):e1472.
3.Delin Qi, Songchang Guo, Wenjia Tang, Xinquan Zhao*, Jianquan Liu.2007. Mitochondrial DNA phylogeny of two morphologically enigmatic fishes in the subfamily Schizothoracinae (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Fish Biology 70:60-74.
4.Delin Qi, Songchang Guo, Xinquan Zhao*, Jie Yang and Wenjia Tang. 2007. Genetic diversity and historical population structure of Schizopygopsis pylzovi (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) in the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Freshwater Biology 52(6):1090-1104.
5.Songchang Guo, Peter Savolainen, Jianping Su, Qian Zhang, Delin Qi, Jie Zhou, Yang Zhong, Xinquan Zhao*, Jianquan Liu. 2006. Origin of mitochondrial DNA diversity of domestic yaks. BMC Evolutionary Biology http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2148-6-73.pdf
6.Jie Yang, Xinquan Zhao*, Songchang Guo Hongge Li, Delin Qi, Depeng Wang, Junhu Cao. 2006. Leptin cDNA cloning and its mRNA expression in plateau pikas (Ochotona curoniae) from different altitudes on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 345(4):1405-1413.
7.Depeng Wang, Hongge Li, Yanjie Li, Songchang Guo, Jie Yang, Delin Qi, Cheng Jin, Xinquan Zhao*. 2006. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α cDNA cloning and its mRNA  and protein tissue specific expression in domestic yak (Bos grunniens) from Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 348:310-319.
8.Tongbiao Zhao, Hongxiu Ning, Shanshan Zhu, Ping Sun, Shixiao Xu, Zhijie Chang, Xinquan Zhao*. 2004. Clong of hypoxia-indueible factor lα cDNA from a high hypoxia tolerant mammalplateau pika(Ochotona curzoniae). Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 316: 565-572.