Low mutation rate in epaulette sharks is consistent with a slow rate of evolution in sharks.

Sharks occupy diverse ecological niches and play critical roles in marine ecosystems, often acting as apex predators. They are considered a slow-evolving lineage and have been suggested to exhibit exceptionally low cancer rates. These two features could be explained by a low nuclear mutation rate. Here, we provide a direct estimate of the nuclear mutation rate in the epaulette shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum). We generate a high-quality reference genome, and resequence the whole genomes of parents and nine offspring to detect de novo mutations. Using stringent criteria, we estimate a mutation rate of 710-10 per base pair, per generation. This represents one of the lowest directly estimated mutation rates for any vertebrate clade, indicating that this basal vertebrate group is indeed a slowly evolving lineage whose ability to restore genetic diversity following a sustained population bottleneck may be hampered by a low mutation rate.

Sendell-Price, A. T., Tulenko, F. J., Pettersson, M., Kang, D. u., Montandon, M., Winkler, S., ... Schartl, M.

Sendell-Price, Ashley T||Tulenko, Frank J||Pettersson, Mats||Kang, Du||Montandon, Margo||Winkler, Sylke||Kulb, Kathleen||Naylor, Gavin P||Phillippy, Adam||Fedrigo, Olivier||Mountcastle, Jacquelyn||Balacco, Jennifer R||Dutra, Amalia||Dale, Rebecca E||Haase, Bettina||Jarvis, Erich D||Myers, Gene||Burgess, Shawn M||Currie, Peter D||Andersson, Leif||Schartl, Manfred

Low mutation rate in epaulette sharks is consistent with a slow rate of evolution in sharks. Academic Article