High genomic diversity in the endangered East Greenland Svalbard Barents Sea stock of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus).

ABSTRACT: The East Greenland-Svalbard-Barents Sea (EGSB) bowhead whale stock (Balaena mysticetus) was hunted to near extinction and remains Endangered on the International Union of Conservation of Nature Red List. The intense, temporally extensive hunting pressure may have left the population vulnerable to other perturbations, such as environmental change. However, the lack of genomic baseline data renders it difficult to evaluate the impacts of various potential stressors on this stock. Twelve EGSB bowhead whales sampled in 2017/2018 were re-sequenced and mapped to a previously published draft genome. All individuals were unrelated and void of significant signs of inbreeding, with similar observed and expected homo- and heterozygosity levels. Despite the small population size, mean autosome-wide he

SUBMITTER: Cerca J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9005726 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature