TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wolf, Magnus
A1  - Jong, Menno de
A1  - Halldórsson, Sverrir Daníel
A1  - Árnason, Úlfur
A1  - Janke, Axel
T1  - Genomic impact of whaling in North Atlantic fin whales
T2  - Molecular Biology and Evolution
N2  - It is generally recognized that large-scale whaling in the 19th and 20th century led to a substantial reduction of the size of many cetacean populations, particularly those of the baleen whales (Mysticeti). The impact of these operations on genomic diversity of one of the most hunted whales, the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), has remained largely unaddressed because of the paucity of adequate samples and the limitation of applicable techniques. Here, we have examined the effect of whaling on the North Atlantic fin whale based on genomes of 51 individuals from Icelandic waters, representing three temporally separated intervals, 1989, 2009 and 2018 and provide a reference genome for the species. Demographic models suggest a noticeable drop of the effective population size of the North Atlantic fin whale around a century ago. The present results suggest that the genome-wide heterozygosity is not markedly reduced and has remained comparable with other baleen whale species. Similarly, there are no signs of apparent inbreeding, as measured by the proportion of long runs of homozygosity, or of a distinctively increased mutational load, as measured by the amount of putative deleterious mutations. Compared with other baleen whales, the North Atlantic fin whale appears to be less affected by anthropogenic influences than other whales such as the North Atlantic right whale, consistent with the presence of long runs of homozygosity and higher levels of mutational load in an otherwise more heterozygous genome. Thus, genome-wide assessments of other species and populations are essential for future, more specific, conservation efforts.
KW  - fin whales
KW  - bottleneck
KW  - genetic diversity
KW  - runs of homozygosity
KW  - whaling
KW  - mutational load
KW  - demography
Y1  - 2022
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/83791
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-837915
SN  - 1537-1719
N1  - The present study was funded by the Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (LOEWE-TBG) through the program “LOEWE – Landes-Offensive zur Entwicklung Wissenschaftlich-ökonomischer Exzellenz” of Hesse's Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and the Arts, as well as the Carl Tryyger foundation, the Royal Physiographic Society, Lund, and the Erik Philip-Sörensen’s Foundation
N1  - Raw sequencing reads have been deposited at the National Center for Biotechnology Information under the BioProject PRJNA740292. The assembled genome sequence of the fin whale is deposited as Genome: JAHXJN000000000, BioSample: SAMN19897699. All other data needed to evaluate the conclusions of the article are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials. Additional data related to this paper may be requested from the authors.
VL  - 39
IS  - 5, art. msac094
SP  - 1
EP  - 14
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  -