Meeting Abstract
North American river otters (Lontra canadensis) inhabit the second largest latitudinal range of any otter species, from boreal Canada to southern Mexico. Restricted mating and birthing periods are due to seasonal limits. Embryonic diapause, a process which delays the implantation of the blastocyst into the mother’s uterus, allows the embryo to rest in a dormant stage until about 40 days before the optimal birth season. Leukemia Inhibiting Factor (LIF), a is an interleukin 6 class cytokine, is a candidate gene involved in the regulation of implantation because it controls cell differentiation and proliferation in the embryo. Here we compare genomic libraries generated by paired-end Illumina TM sequencing at approximately 30X coverage from the North American river otter, the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra), the African clawless otter (Aonyx capensis), and the American mink (Neovison vison). The African clawless otter and the Eurasian otter do not undergo delayed implantation, while the mink, a member of the same family, but separate subfamily does undergo a limited implantation delay. The domesticated form of the European polecat (Mustela putorius), or the ferret, is used as a reference genome. Once we have a draft annotation for these four species, we will be able to compare LIF across dispausing and non-diapausing mustelids.
