Wild pedigrees inform mutation rates and historic abundance in baleen whales

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Suarez-Menendez, Marcos; Berube, Martine; Furni, Fabricio; Rivera-Leon, Vania E.; Heide-Jorgensen, Mads-Peter; Larsen, Finn; Sears, Richard; Ramp, Christian; Eriksson, Britas Klemens; Etienne, Rampal S.; Robbins, Jooke; Palsboll, Per J.
• 署名单位: University of Groningen; Greenland Institute of Natural Resources; University of St Andrews
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-13118
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adf2160
• 发表日期: 2023-09-01
• 页码: 990-995
• 关键词: atlantic humpback whales; north-atlantic; microsatellite loci; ancient dna; control region; megaptera-novaeangliae; substitution rates; germline mutation; divergence times; population-size

摘要

Phylogeny-based estimates suggesting a low germline mutation rate (mu) in baleen whales have influenced research ranging from assessments of whaling impacts to evolutionary cancer biology. We estimated mu 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 mu reduces previous genetic-based estimates of preexploitation whale abundance by 86% and suggests that mu cannot explain low cancer rates in gigantic mammals. Our study shows that it is feasible to estimate mu directly from pedigrees in natural populations, with wide-ranging implications for ecological and evolutionary research.