Sequenced genomes of cetaceans: the state of cetacean genomics

The DNA of the giants of the sea

The first complete cetacean genome was published in 2011 (common bottlenose dolphin). Today more than 30 species have their sequence available, revealing the unique genes that made aquatic evolution possible. This database lists the published genomes.

Cetacean genomics: what the sequences reveal

The sequencing of the genome of cetaceans has expanded rapidly since the 2010s. The genome of the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) was published as early as 2008, then that of the common minke whale in 2014 (Yim et al., Nature Genetics). Today more than 30 species of cetacean are sequenced, among them the blue whale, the bowhead whale, the narwhal, the killer whale and the sperm whale.

These genomes shed light on adaptation to diving (myoglobin genes with positive substitutions), on longevity (DNA repair genes in the bowhead whale, Keane et al. 2015), on the loss of smell and on the remodelling of the neocortex. The Earth BioGenome Project and the Vertebrate Genomes Project consortium aim to sequence every living species: the ~90 cetaceans are priority targets.

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