Journal
JOURNAL OF HEREDITY
Volume 101, Issue 2, Pages 235-239Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/jhered/esp098
Keywords
Eubalaena glacialis; control region; genetic diversity; matriline; mutation; paternal leakage
Categories
Funding
- Canadian Whale Institute
- National Marine Fisheries Service
- Ocean Life Institute (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Mitochondrial heteroplasmy has been identified in a variety of species and can result from either paternal leakage, whereby sperm mitochondria enter the ova during fertilization, or more commonly by the survival and proliferation of mutant variants within an organism. From an evolutionary perspective, this process represents the generation of new mitochondrial diversity within a species. Although this has been documented in some mammalian species, it has been reported from relatively few wild mammalian populations and in no wild nonhuman population has the transfer and segregation of mitochondrial heteroplasmy been tracked through multiple generations. We report on the first case of the identification and tracking of mitochondrial control region heteroplasmy through 3 generations in the North Atlantic right whale, Eubalaena glacialis. We also identify the full segregation to the mutant variant within a single generation and thus the development of a new haplotype (haplotype G) in a maternal lineage of this endangered species. Witnessed here is the generation of mitochondrial diversity in a genetically depauperate species.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available