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Complete mitochondrial genome of the beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas (Cetacea: Monodontidae)

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Abstract

The beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas (Mammalia: Cetacea: Monodontidae) is a small, toothed, Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean threatened by human activities and environmental contamination. Herein, we report the first complete mitochondrial genome sequence of D. leucas, comprising 16,386 bp encoding the typical set of 37 mitochondrial genes, one replication origin, and a putative control region. It exhibits the classic vertebrate mitochondrial gene arrangement and demonstrated the highest similarity with the mitochondrial genome of the narwhal Monodon monoceros, a member of the only other extant genus in the Monodontidae family. Phylogenetic analysis using the 35 available Odontoceti (toothed whale) mitochondrial genomes clustered D. leucas with M. monoceros, with a tree topology that accorded well with traditional and recent molecular taxonomies. These data will provide information fundamental to conservation genetic studies of this endangered Arctic whale.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2014R1A2A1A11050093), and by Grants from the KRIBB Initiative program (Grant No. KGM4691612) and Global Frontier Program through the NRF, funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (Grant No. 2015M3A6B2063544).

Funding

This study was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2014R1A2A1A11050093), and by grants from the KRIBB Initiative program (Grant No. KGM4691612) and Global Frontier Program through the NRF, funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (Grant No. 2015M3A6B2063544).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Infectious Disease Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea

      Ji Hyung Kim, Hye Kwon Kim & Dae Gwin Jeong

    2. Laboratory of Aquatic Biomedicine, College of Veterinary Medicine and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea

      Young-Ran Lee, Jin Woo Jun, Sib Sankar Giri, Hyoun Joong Kim, Cheng Chi, Saekil Yun, Sang Geun Kim, Sang Wha Kim & Se Chang Park

    3. Lotteworld Aquarium, Seoul, 05551, Republic of Korea

      Jeong-Rack Koh

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    1. Ji Hyung Kim
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    Correspondence to Dae Gwin Jeong or Se Chang Park.

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    Ji Hyung Kim and Young-Ran Lee have contributed equally to this work.

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    Kim, J.H., Lee, YR., Koh, JR. et al. Complete mitochondrial genome of the beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas (Cetacea: Monodontidae). Conservation Genet Resour 9, 435–438 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-017-0705-5

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-017-0705-5

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