About the Authors

Yvette A. Halley

Affiliation Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America

Scot E. Dowd

Affiliation Molecular Research LP, Shallowater, Texas, United States of America

Jared E. Decker

Affiliation Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, United States of America

Paul M. Seabury

Affiliation ElanTech Inc., Greenbelt, Maryland, United States of America

Eric Bhattarai

Affiliation Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America

Charles D. Johnson

Affiliation Genomics and Bioinformatics Core, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, College Station, Texas, United States of America

Dale Rollins

Affiliation Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch, Rotan, Texas, United States of America

Ian R. Tizard

Affiliation Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America

Donald J. Brightsmith

Affiliation Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America

Markus J. Peterson

Affiliation Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America

Jeremy F. Taylor

Affiliation Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, United States of America

Christopher M. Seabury

cseabury@cvm.tamu.edu

Affiliation Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have the following competing interests to declare: SED and CDJ run sequencing service centers, SED is Owner of General Partner and CEO of Molecular Research LP, PMS is the brother of CMS and is also a collaborator and employee of ElanTech Inc. ElanTech Inc allows PMS to collaborate and participate in peer-reviewed publications. DR is now a retired Texas AgriLife Extension Wildlife Specialist who serves as the Director of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: CMS. Performed the experiments: YH CMS. Analyzed the data: CMS YH SED JED MJP. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: DR IRT DJB CDJ. Wrote the paper: YH CMS. Assembled the Bobwhite Genome (Iteratively): YH CMS. Performed Comparative Genome Alignments: YH. Predicted Repeat Content: YH CMS. Performed Genome Wide Variant Detection: CMS. Estimated Bobwhite and Scarlet Macaw Generation Times: MJP CMS. Performed Coalescent Modeling: JED. Interpreted Coalescent Modeling: CMS JED JFT. Performed Bobwhite Genome Annotation: YH CMS SED. Compiled, Parsed, and Scripted Annotation Tables and Genomic Data: CMS PMS SED. Performed Whole Genome Analyses of Divergence: YH CMS. Performed Quality Control Analyses: YH CMS EB PMS. Managed Data: YH CMS PMS. Provided important comments and suggestions for the manuscript: SED JED PMS EB CDJ DR IRT DJB MJP JFT.