Ancient Atlantic Bluefin Tuna mitogenomes

Mitogenomic (MT) introgression between species is readily documented in marine fishes. Such introgression events may either be long-term natural phenomena or the result of human-driven shifts in spatial distributions of previously separated species. Determining the drivers behind MT introgression is stymied by the difficulty of directly observing patterns of interbreeding over long timescales. Using ancient DNA spanning five millennia, we here investigate the long-term presence of MT introgression from Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) and albacore (Thunnus alalunga) into Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), a species with extensive exploitation history and observed shifts in abundance, and demographic distribution. Comparing ancient (n=130) and modern (n=78) mitogenomes of specimens covering most of the range of Atlantic bluefin tuna we detect no significant spatial or temporal population structure. This lack of spatiotemporal genomic differentiation is indicative of ongoing gene flow between populations and large effective population sizes over millennia. Moreover, we identify introgressed MT genomes in ancient specimens up to 5000 years old and find that this rate of introgression has remained similar through time. We therefore conclude that MT introgression in the Atlantic bluefin tuna is to date unaffected by anthropogenic impacts. By providing the oldest example of directly observed MT introgression in the marine environment, our results highlight the utility of ancient DNA to obtain temporal insights in the long-term persistence of such phenomena.

Identifier
Source https://data.blue-cloud.org/search-details?step=~012640D88C085AF97C2223C75D5122745C067943F29
Metadata Access https://data.blue-cloud.org/api/collections/640D88C085AF97C2223C75D5122745C067943F29
Provenance
Instrument Illumina HiSeq 4000; ILLUMINA
Publisher Blue-Cloud Data Discovery & Access service; ELIXIR-ENA
Publication Year 2024
OpenAccess true
Contact blue-cloud-support(at)maris.nl
Representation
Discipline Marine Science
Temporal Coverage Begin 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z
Temporal Coverage End 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z