RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Complex admixture preceded and followed the extinction of wisent in the wild
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 059527
DO 10.1101/059527
A1 Karolina Węcek
A1 Stefanie Hartmann
A1 Johanna L. A. Paijmans
A1 Ulrike Taron
A1 Georgios Xenikoudakis
A1 James A. Cahill
A1 Peter D. Heintzman
A1 Beth Shapiro
A1 Gennady Baryshnikov
A1 Aleksei N. Bunevich
A1 Jennifer J. Crees
A1 Roland Dobosz
A1 Ninna Manaserian
A1 Henryk Okarma
A1 Małgorzata Tokarska
A1 Samuel T. Turvey
A1 Jan M. Wójcik
A1 Waldemar Żyła
A1 Jacek M. Szymura
A1 Michael Hofreiter
A1 Axel Barlow
YR 2016
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/07/15/059527.abstract
AB Retracing complex population processes that precede extreme bottlenecks may be impossible using data from living individuals. The wisent (Bison bonasus), Europe’s largest terrestrial mammal, exemplifies such a population history, having gone extinct in the wild but subsequently restored by captive breeding efforts. Using low coverage genomic data from modern and historical individuals, we investigate population processes occurring before and after this extinction. Analysis of aligned genomes supports the division of wisent into two previously recognised subspecies, but almost half of the genomic alignment contradicts this population history as a result of incomplete lineage sorting and admixture. Admixture between subspecies populations occurred prior to extinction and subsequently during the captive breeding program. Admixture with the Bos cattle lineage is also widespread but results from ancient events rather than recent hybridisation with domestics. Our study demonstrates the huge potential of historical genomes for both studying evolutionary histories and for guiding conservation strategies.