학술논문
Low mutation rate in epaulette sharks is consistent with a slow rate of evolution in sharks
Document Type
article
Author
Ashley T. Sendell-Price; Frank J. Tulenko; Mats Pettersson; Du Kang; Margo Montandon; Sylke Winkler; Kathleen Kulb; Gavin P. Naylor; Adam Phillippy; Olivier Fedrigo; Jacquelyn Mountcastle; Jennifer R. Balacco; Amalia Dutra; Rebecca E. Dale; Bettina Haase; Erich D. Jarvis; Gene Myers; Shawn M. Burgess; Peter D. Currie; Leif Andersson; Manfred Schartl
Source
Nature Communications, Vol 14, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2023)
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
2041-1723
Abstract
Abstract Sharks occupy diverse ecological niches and play critical roles in marine ecosystems, often acting as apex predators. They are considered a slow-evolving lineage and have been suggested to exhibit exceptionally low cancer rates. These two features could be explained by a low nuclear mutation rate. Here, we provide a direct estimate of the nuclear mutation rate in the epaulette shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum). We generate a high-quality reference genome, and resequence the whole genomes of parents and nine offspring to detect de novo mutations. Using stringent criteria, we estimate a mutation rate of 7×10−10 per base pair, per generation. This represents one of the lowest directly estimated mutation rates for any vertebrate clade, indicating that this basal vertebrate group is indeed a slowly evolving lineage whose ability to restore genetic diversity following a sustained population bottleneck may be hampered by a low mutation rate.