biostudies-literatureUnknown33(11)Gautier MAs 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 MaximumMolecular biology and evolution2801-2814https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC5062319biostudies-literatureDeciphering the Wisent Demographic and Adaptive Histories from Individual Whole-Genome Sequences.PMC5062319Grohs CKowalczyk RParinello HGautier MLeveziel HMoazami-Goudarzi KRialle SFlori LfalseDeciphering the Wisent Demographic and Adaptive Histories from Individual Whole-Genome Sequences.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 Maximum2016-01-01T00:00:00Z2016 Nov2026-05-01T21:21:40.322Z2019-03-27T02:26:33ZS-EPMC50623192743601010.1093/molbev/msw144