An effective method for isolating DNA from historical specimens of baleen.

DNA was isolated from an early twentieth century museum specimen of northern right whale baleen. A system of stringent controls and a novel set of cetacean specific primers eliminated contamination from external sources and ensured the authenticity of the results. Sequence analysis revealed that there were informative nucleotide positions between the museum specimen and extant members of the population and closely related species. The results indicate that museum specimens of baleen can be used to assess historical genetic population structure of the great whales.