The interplay of natural selection and genetic drift, influenced by geographic isolation, mating systems and population size, determines patterns of genetic diversity within species. The sperm whale provides an interesting example of a long-lived species with few geographic barriers to dispersal. Worldwide mtDNA diversity is relatively low, but highly structured...
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Alexander1,2,3*, Debbie Steel1,2, Kendra Hoekzema2, Sarah Mesnick4, Daniel Engelhaupt5, Iain Kerr6, Roger Payne6
The interplay of natural selection and genetic drift, influenced by geographic isolation, mating systems and population size, determines patterns of genetic diversity within species. The sperm whale provides an interesting example of a long-lived species with few geographic barriers to dispersal. Worldwide mtDNA diversity is relatively low, but highly structured...
Full Text:
,*† KENDRA HOEKZEMA,† SARAH L. MESNICK,§
DANIEL ENGELHAUPT,¶ IAIN KERR,** ROGER PAYNE** and C. SCOTT BAKER
Large population sizes and global distributions generally associate with high mitochondrial DNA control region (CR) diversity. The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is an exception, showing low CR diversity relative to other cetaceans; however, diversity levels throughout the remainder of the sperm whale mitogenome are unknown. We sequenced 20 mitogenomes from...