ArticleMolecular biology and evolution2019
Return to the Sea, Get Huge, Beat Cancer: An Analysis of Cetacean Genomes Including an Assembly for the Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae).
Article in Molecular biology and evolution, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers.
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Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 133 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- The long-lived immune system of centenarians.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2026Review
- One Sea, Different Whales: Genomics Sheds Light on a Small Population of Fin Whales.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Conserved Pathways, Divergent Outcomes: A Cross-Species Genomic Perspective on the Cancer-Neurodegeneration Paradox.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Genome Evolution and the Enigmatic Axial Skeleton of the Hero Shew (Soricidae: Scutisorex Somereni).Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- When cells rebel: a comparative genomics investigation into marsupial cancer susceptibility.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Molecular divergence ofZoological research · 2026Article
- Learning from plants: is it possible to make an animal organism a non-host for cancer?Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- From few to many: How non-model organisms' genomics broadened our understanding of molecular evolution.Genetics and molecular biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Phylogenomic Approaches to Study Adaptive Evolution in Mammals: From Aging to Aquatic Lifestyles.Annual review of genetics · 2025Review
- Extensive longevity and DNA virus-driven adaptation in nearcticbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- A Trade-Off between Body Mass and Cancer Resistance in Cetaceans Is Mediated by Cell Cycle-Related Gene Evolution.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Cancer Prevalence across Vertebrates.Cancer discovery · 2025Article
- The Elephant and the Spandrel.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2025Article
- Ocean-Wide Conservation Genomics of Blue Whales Suggest New Northern Hemisphere Subspecies.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Analysis of Cancer-Resisting Evolutionary Adaptations in Wild Animals and Applications for Human Oncology.Journal of molecular evolution · 2024Review
- DNA repair and anti-cancer mechanisms in the long-lived bowhead whale.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Novel Megaptera novaeangliae (Humpback whale) haplotype chromosome-level reference genome.Scientific data · 2024Article
- Approaches and methods to study wildlife cancer.The Journal of animal ecology · 2024Review
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 10 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Cetaceans are a clade of highly specialized aquatic mammals that include the largest animals that have ever lived. The largest whales can have ∼1,000× more cells than a human, with long lifespans, leaving them theoretically susceptible to cancer. However, large-bodied and long-lived animals do not suffer higher risks of cancer mortality than humans-an observation known as Peto's Paradox. To investigate the genomic bases of gigantism and other cetacean adaptations, we generated a de novo genome assembly for the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) and incorporated the genomes of ten cetacean species in a comparative analysis. We found further evidence that rorquals (family Balaenopteridae) radiated during the Miocene or earlier, and inferred that perturbations in abundance and/or the interocean connectivity of North Atlantic humpback whale populations likely occurred throughout the Pleistocene. Our comparative genomic results suggest that the evolution of cetacean gigantism was accompanied by strong selection on pathways that are directly linked to cancer. Large segmental duplications in whale genomes contained genes controlling the apoptotic pathway, and genes inferred to be under accelerated evolution and positive selection in cetaceans were enriched for biological processes such as cell cycle checkpoint, cell signaling, and proliferation. We also inferred positive selection on genes controlling the mammalian appendicular and cranial skeletal elements in the cetacean lineage, which are relevant to extensive anatomical changes during cetacean evolution. Genomic analyses shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying cetacean traits, including gigantism, and will contribute to the development of future targets for human cancer therapies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.