Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Variation in North Atlantic Long-Finned Pilot Whales,Globicephala melas

摘要

I sequenced mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 39 long-finned pilot whales(Globicephala melas) that stranded on the coasts of Cape Cod, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Scotland, and England or were caught by commercial fisheries operating in the western North Atlantic, to determine if there is more than one genetic stock in the North Atlantic. Samples from 11 Atlantic and 2 Pacific short-finned pilot whales (G. macrorhynchus) and 11 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) were also analyzed. Sequences were obtained from 4OO-bp of the D-loop, a non-coding region involved in replication, and from 3O3-bp of the protein gene coding for cytochrome b.