Wild pedigrees inform mutation rates and historic abundance in baleen whales

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Suárez-Menéndez, Marcos, Bérubé, Martine, Furni, Fabrício, Rivera-León, Vania E., Heide-Jørgensen, Mads-Peter, Larsen, Finn, Sears, Richard, Ramp, Christian, Eriksson, Britas Klemens, Etienne, Rampal S., Robbins, Jooke, Palsbøll, Per J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2023
• Subjects: baleen whale; baleen whales; toothed whales
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.adf2160; https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.adf2160

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