Deciphering the Wisent Demographic and Adaptive Histories from Individual Whole-Genome Sequences.

ABSTRACT: As the largest European herbivore, the wisent (Bison bonasus) is emblematic of the continent wildlife but has unclear origins. Here, we infer its demographic and adaptive histories from two individual whole-genome sequences via a detailed comparative analysis with bovine genomes. We estimate that the wisent and bovine species diverged from 1.7 × 10⁶ to 850,000 years before present (YBP) through a speciation process involving an extended period of limited gene flow. Our data further support the occurrence of more recent secondary contacts, posterior to the Bos taurus and Bos indicus divergence (∼150,000 YBP), between the wisent and (European) taurine cattle lineages. Although the wisent and bovine population sizes experienced a similar sharp decline since the Last Glacial Maximum

SUBMITTER: Gautier M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5062319 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature