Flight fatigue can impact the ability of pilots to complete long endurance cross-domain flight missions, and skeletal muscle fatigue caused by insufficient muscle endurance is an important cause of flight fatigue. Circadian rhythm and clock genes reportedly play an important role in regulating muscle endurance, and BMAL1 is one of the core clock genes that affect muscle endurance by regulating muscle metabolism, energy production, and muscle fiber-type switching. Disturbance of circadian rhythm or abnormal expressions of BMAL1 can lead to decreased muscle endurance, resulting in body fatigue. In this paper, the research progress in the role of clock gene BMAL1 in regulating muscle endurance is reviewed, which is expected to provide insights and methods for improving muscle endurance and anti-fatigue ability of pilots in long-endurance cross-domain flights.

Hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs) are core molecules that enable the body to adapt to hypoxia environments. By sensing changes in intracellular oxygen pressure, HIFs regulate gene expression related to hypoxia adaptation, thereby enhancing the body′s hypoxia tolerance at cellular, tissue and organ levels. On the other hand, HIFs promote the generation of red blood cells, angiogenesis, and regulate the body′s energy metabolism, thereby improving its hypoxia tolerance. The enhancement of hypoxia tolerance is of great significance for the prevention and treatment of hypoxia-related diseases, upgrading of athletes′ performance, enhancement of workers′ efficiency at high-altitudes, and the improvement of individuals′ quality of life. This article reviews the relationships between HIFs and hypoxia tolerance as well as related mechanisms in order to provide strategies for enhancing hypoxia tolerance in the body.