Mitochondrial genome divergence between beluga whales in Baffin Bay and the Sea of Okhotsk

The beluga whale is one of three endemic Arctic whales. The species is philopatric, and its migration patterns are passed from mother to calf. Management of the species is informed by the levels of genetic structuring among summer aggregation sites based on mitochondrial D-Loop data. To assess the l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mitochondrial DNA Part B
Main Authors: Mikkel Skovrind, Jose Alfredo Samaniego Castruita, Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen, Love Dalén, Eline Lorenzen
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2017
Subjects:
arctic
monodontidae
phylogeny
western greenland
Genetics
QH426-470
Arctic
Baffin Bay
Greenland
Okhotsk
Baffin
Beluga
Beluga whale
Beluga*
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1080/23802359.2017.1318686
https://doaj.org/article/9e8c76576fab42ca88172140a4c645b8
Description
Summary:The beluga whale is one of three endemic Arctic whales. The species is philopatric, and its migration patterns are passed from mother to calf. Management of the species is informed by the levels of genetic structuring among summer aggregation sites based on mitochondrial D-Loop data. To assess the levels of differentiation across the entire mitochondrial genome within belugas, we present a comparison between the first two complete mitochondrial genomes from opposite sides of their distribution range: Baffin Bay and the Russian Far East. Our analyses reveal that additional phylogenetic insights can be gained from expanding the genetic region analyzed. Further, we estimate the divergence time between the two mitochondrial genomes to be 0.469 MYA.

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