Wild pedigrees inform mutation rates and historic abundance in baleen whales

Marcos Suárez-Menéndez, Martine Bérubé, Fabrício Furni, Vania E. Rivera-León, Mads-Peter Heide-Jørgensen, Finn Larsen, Richard Sears, Christian Ramp, Britas Klemens Eriksson, Rampal S. Etienne, Jooke Robbins, Per J. Palsbøll

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Phylogeny-based estimates suggesting a low germline mutation rate (m) in baleen whales have influenced research ranging from assessments of whaling impacts to evolutionary cancer biology. We estimated m directly from pedigrees in four baleen whale species for both the mitochondrial control region and nuclear genome. The results suggest values higher than those obtained through phylogeny-based estimates and similar to pedigree-based values for primates and toothed whales. Applying our estimate of m reduces previous genetic-based estimates of preexploitation whale abundance by 86% and suggests that m cannot explain low cancer rates in gigantic mammals. Our study shows that it is feasible to estimate m directly from pedigrees in natural populations, with wide-ranging implications for ecological and evolutionary research.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)990-995
JournalScience
Volume381
Issue number6661
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2023
Externally publishedYes

Funding

M.S.-M. was supported by a doctorate fellowship from the University of Groningen. P.J.P. and M.B. acknowledge support over the years by the University of Copenhagen, University of California, Berkeley, and Stockholm University. Additional funding was provided by the Aage V. Jensen Foundation (P.J.P.), US National Marine Fisheries Service (P.J.P. and M.B.), the International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee (M.B. and P.J.P.), WWF-DK (P.J.P.), the Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland (P.J.P.), the Greenland Home Rule (P.J.P.), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant no. 813383 (F.F. and P.J.P.), and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (V.E.R.-L.).

FundersFunder number
Aage V. Jensen Foundation
Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland
Greenland Home Rule
International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee
WWF-DK
University of California Berkeley
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme813383
National Marine Fisheries Service
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Københavns Universitet
Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología
Stockholms Universitet

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