Bowhead whale genes might hold keys to long life

A bowhead whale breaches in the Sea of Okhotsk, off Russia’s eastern coast. Scientists are studying the whale’s genes in search of clues to a long, healthy life for humans. (WIKIMEDIA COMMONS PHOTO, OLGA SHPAK)

Secrets to the fountain of youth may have been hiding in Nunavut waters all along.

Scientists in England studying the bowhead whale — known to live up to two centuries and to have remarkably low disease rates — posted the animal’s genome online, hoping scientists around the world can find clues helpful to human health.

A genome includes an organism’s complete set of DNA, including all of its genes.

“The mechanisms for the longevity and resistance to aging-related diseases of bowhead whales are unknown, but it is clear they must possess aging prevention mechanisms,” the researchers, comprised of about a dozen scientists from England, South Korea, Denmark and the United States, say on their website.

Of particular interest to the researchers in this case are potential cancer-fighting mechanisms hidden in the whale’s genetic makeup.

“Bowhead whales must have anti-tumour mechanisms, because given their large size and longevity, their cells must have a massively lower chance of developing into cancer when compared to human cells,” the website says.

By making the bowhead’s genome available online, researchers hope the global scientific community can help identify potential means by which the whale lives such a long and healthy life.

“By identifying novel maintenance and repair mechanisms we will learn what is the secret for living longer, healthier lives and may be able to apply this knowledge to improve human health,” the website says.

The bowhead whale is divided into several populations in Canada. The Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort population in the western Arctic is listed as a “species of special concern” by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.

A 2008 federal fisheries survey estimated the eastern population contained more than 43,000 animals but DFO says the number today is closer to 6,000.

Last year the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board approved a request from the Baffin region’s wildlife board to increase its harvesting of the animal from one to two.

An identical request from the Kivalliq region appears to be delayed but could be decided before the 2015 harvesting season.

Currently, Nunavut’s total allowable harvest of the animal is four per year: two in the Baffin region, and one each in the Kivalliq and Kitikmeot regions.