Abstract
Mammals vary dramatically in lifespan, by at least two-orders of magnitude, but the molecular basis for this difference remains largely unknown. The bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus is the longest-lived mammal known, with an estimated maximal lifespan in excess of two hundred years. It is also one of the two largest animals and the most cold-adapted baleen whale species. Here, we report the first genome-wide gene expression analyses of the bowhead whale, based on the de novo assembly of its transcriptome. Bowhead whale or cetacean-specific changes in gene expression were identified in the liver, kidney and heart, and complemented with analyses of positively selected genes. Changes associated with altered insulin signaling and other gene expression patterns could help explain the remarkable longevity of bowhead whales as well as their adaptation to a lipid-rich diet. The data also reveal parallels in candidate longevity adaptations of the bowhead whale, naked mole rat and Brandt's bat. The bowhead whale transcriptome is a valuable resource for the study of this remarkable animal, including the evolution of longevity and its important correlates such as resistance to cancer and other diseases.
Highlights
The bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) is a sentinel baleen whale species of the Arctic [1]
Using the de novo assembler Trinity [12, 13], approximately 659 million paired-end short reads from the bowhead whale were assembled into a single transcriptome per tissue (Supplemental Table 2)
We report the transcriptome of the bowhead whale, the longest-lived mammal known
Summary
The bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) is a sentinel baleen whale species of the Arctic [1]. It has a suite of adaptations for life in an intensely cold and ice-bound habitat. Cetaceans are generally long-lived species and, to humans, display traits such as delayed sexual maturity, low fecundity and high survival rates. In contrast to their terrestrial relatives within the order Artiodactyla, which feed on a carbohydrate-rich diet, cetaceans subsist on a lipid-rich diet of krill and other small marine animals. The genomic sequences of only a few cetaceans, including the minke whale
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