TY - JOUR
T1 - Wild pedigrees inform mutation rates and historic abundance in baleen whales
AU - Suárez-Menéndez, Marcos
AU - Bérubé, Martine
AU - Furni, Fabrício
AU - Rivera-León, Vania E.
AU - Heide-Jørgensen, Mads-Peter
AU - Larsen, Finn
AU - Sears, Richard
AU - Ramp, Christian
AU - Eriksson, Britas Klemens
AU - Etienne, Rampal S.
AU - Robbins, Jooke
AU - Palsbøll, Per J.
PY - 2023/9/1
Y1 - 2023/9/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85169396253&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.adf2160
DO - 10.1126/science.adf2160
M3 - Article
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 381
SP - 990
EP - 995
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6661
ER -