The genome sequence of the wisent (Bison bonasus).
The wisent, also known as the European bison, was rescued from extinction approximately 80 years ago through the conservation of 12 individuals. Here, we present the draft genome sequence of a male wisent individual descended from this founding stock. A total of 366 billion base pairs (Gb) of raw reads from whole-genome sequencing of this wisent were generated using the Illumina HiSeq2000 platform. The final genome assembly (2.58 Gb) is composed of 29,074 scaffolds with an N50 of 4.7 Mb. 47.3% of the genome is composed of repetitive elements. We identified 21,542 genes and 58,385 non-coding RNAs. A phylogenetic tree based on nuclear genomes indicated sister relationships between bison and wisent and between the wisent-bison clade and yak. For 75 genes we obtained evidence of positive evolution in the wisent lineage. We provide the first genome sequence and gene annotation for the wisent. The availability of these resources will be of value for the future conservation of this endangered large mammal and for reconstructing the evolutionary history of the Bovini tribe.
MOE Key Laboratory for Bio-resources and Eco-environment, College of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Kun
K
Wang
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
Lizhong
L
Wang
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Johannes A
JA
Lenstra
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
Jianbo
J
Jian
State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Yongzhi
Y
Yang
MOE Key Laboratory for Bio-resources and Eco-environment, College of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Quanjun
Q
Hu
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
Deyong
D
Lai
State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Qiang
Q
Qiu
MOE Key Laboratory for Bio-resources and Eco-environment, College of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Tao
T
Ma
National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen.
Zheng
Z
Du
School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TH, UK.
Richard
R
Abbott
MOE Key Laboratory for Bio-resources and Eco-environment, College of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.|State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Jianquan
J
Liu
D000818:Animals; D016164:Bison / Q000235:genetics*; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D016678:Genome; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D000073336:Whole Genome Sequencing
Bovini tribe; genome assembly; wisent