Phylogeny and genetic variation of the European bison Bison bonasus based on mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequences

Genomic DNA from 14 representative animals of 3 maternal lines of Bison bonasus (Linnaeus, 1758) was used for amplification of a 1026-bp fragment of mtDNA D-loop. Analysis of this mitochondrial control region demonstrated only four variable sites in the studied B. bonasus population. Nucleotide substitutions in the fragment studied were very unstable, suggesting that intralineage sequence variation can occur in B. bonasus. To estimate phylogenetic relationships within the Bovinae subfamily mtDNA control region was analysed. The phylogenetic analysis separated two species of Bison, and placed Bison bison most closely to Bos grunniens. The rate sequence divergence of the hypervariable region of the D-loop between B. bonasus and B. bison was calculated as 78.5% per Myr.