Moderate nucleotide diversity in the Atlantic herring is associated with a low mutation rate.

ABSTRACT: The Atlantic herring is one of the most abundant vertebrates on earth but its nucleotide diversity is moderate (π = 0.3%), only three-fold higher than in human. Here, we present a pedigree-based estimation of the mutation rate in this species. Based on whole-genome sequencing of four parents and 12 offspring, the estimated mutation rate is 2.0 × 10^-9 per base per generation. We observed a high degree of parental mosaicism indicating that a large fraction of these de novo mutations occurred during early germ cell development. The estimated mutation rate - the lowest among vertebrates analyzed to date - partially explains the discrepancy between the rather low nucleotide diversity in herring and its huge census population size. But a species like the herring will never reach its e

SUBMITTER: Feng C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5524536 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature