Researchers at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax have acquired funding that will help them update a DNA database of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.
Researchers have used DNA samples to track North Atlantic right whale populations since the late 1980s. Those samples have been compiled into a database for decades, which is used to identify individual right whales without relying solely on the view.
This is especially useful for scientists who want to understand family trees or identify fat floating in the ocean or washing ashore.
The DNA database contains the complete genetic profiles of around 700 right whales, both past and present. But with a contract from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Halifax researchers hope to re-analyze the samples using newer methods.
Timothy Frasier, principal investigator of the right whale genetic work, said the current database analyzes each individual whale’s genome in 36 different regions along the DNA chain. However, the funding will allow them to analyze 300 regions.
“It’s a big jump,” said Frasier, a biology professor. “That will not only give us a higher resolution [of the genome]but technology will make it much more efficient and less prone to errors.”
The contract term begins in March and can be extended each year until 2028. Total annual payment is up to $33,960.
Database tracks family ties and endogamy
Sean Brillant, senior conservation biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Federation, said the database helps researchers know how many breeding females have calves and the frequency of their births.
Modernizing this database could lead to more accurate and faster results, Brillant said.
“When we see a calf, who the mother and father are is very helpful in understanding what the intervals are between animals giving birth,” he said, noting that a female right whale ideally waits three years between each calf.
But this is not usually the case, since he stated that “delays or increases in that interval are indications that the population is under stress.”
Brillant said tracking the species’ DNA allows scientists to measure genetic diversity. While the species has a high level of inbreeding due to its small population, he said there is work suggesting that it does not have an impact on their genetic diversity.
“What we’re resulting in is a population of animals that has pretty good genetic diversity, meaning they have the ability to break out of this limited genetic pool that they might be in,” he said.
Collaboration with the photography catalog.
Philip Hamilton, senior scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life in New England, said the DNA database is a tool that works in conjunction with a catalog of photographs of nearly all right whales alive today, which contains more than two million photographs.
Most right whales can be identified visually by comparing the whale’s callus pattern (large patches of skin on the head), so taking photographs is the easiest way to identify them.
However, Hamilton said calluses don’t appear until later in a whale’s life, so the DNA database is a great way to identify calves.
Hamilton said this funding is exciting for his field of study as it can enhance his research by “opening up new avenues of research.”
“I’m looking forward to the time when they’ve done it. We have some mysterious cases of dead whales that we’ll put back together and find out, ‘Oh, this is actually this whale,'” he said.
There are believed to be fewer than 400 North Atlantic right whales left in the world.
