title: The transcriptome of the bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus reveals adaptations of the longest-lived mammal.
abstract: Mammals vary dramatically in lifespan, by at least two-orders of magnitude, but the molecular basis for this difference remains largely unknown. The bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus is the longest-lived mammal known, with an estimated maximal lifespan in excess of two hundred years. It is also one of the two largest animals and the most cold-adapted baleen whale species. Here, we report the first genome-wide gene expression analyses of the bowhead whale, based on the de novo assembly of its transcriptome. Bowhead whale or cetacean-specific changes in gene expression were identified in the liver, kidney and heart, and complemented with analyses of positively selected genes. Changes associated with altered insulin signaling and other gene expression patterns could help explain the remarkable longevity of bowhead whales as well as their adaptation to a lipid-rich diet. The data also reveal parallels in candidate longevity adaptations of the bowhead whale, naked mole rat and Brandt's bat. The bowhead whale transcriptome is a valuable resource for the study of this remarkable animal, including the evolution of longevity and its important correlates such as resistance to cancer and other diseases.
authors.affiliation: Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Seim
authors.affiliation: Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Siming
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Xuming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Maxim V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Gerashchenko
authors.affiliation: Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Sang-Goo
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Wildlife Management, North Slope Borough, Barrow, AK 99723, USA.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Suydam
authors.affiliation: Department of Wildlife Management, North Slope Borough, Barrow, AK 99723, USA.
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: George
authors.affiliation: Battelle Memorial Institute, Houston, TX 77079, USA.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Bickham
authors.affiliation: Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Vadim N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Gladyshev
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D050642:Bowhead Whale / Q000235:genetics*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D008136:Longevity / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D059467:Transcriptome