2018/10/10 by Kun Wang, Johannes A. Lenstra, Liang Liu +4 · 2 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Genetic diversity and population structure #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies #Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s42003-018-0176-6
openalex publication_date 2018/10/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
The wisent or European bison is the largest European herbivore and is completely cross-fertile with its American relative. However, mtDNA genome of wisent is similar to that of cattle, which suggests that wisent emerged as a hybrid of bison and an extinct cattle-like species. Here, we analyzed nuclear whole-genome sequences of the bovine species, and found only a minor and recent gene flow between wisent and cattle. Furthermore, we identified an appreciable heterogeneity of the nuclear gene tree topologies of the bovine species. The relative frequencies of various topologies, including the mtDNA topology, were consistent with frequencies of incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) as estimated by tree coalescence analysis. This indicates that ILS has occurred and may well account for the anomalous wisent mtDNA phylogeny as the outcome of a rare event. We propose that ILS is a possible explanation of phylogenomic anomalies among closely related species.