A complete telomere-to-telomere assembly of the maize genome

发布日期：2023-06-25

Author：中国农业大学国家玉米改良中心、玉米生物育种全国重点实验室赖锦盛教授团队

Abstract：A complete telomere-to-telomere (T2T) finished genome has been the long pursuit of genomic research. Through generating deep coverage ultralong Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT) and PacBio HiFi reads, we report here a complete genome assembly of maize with each chromosome entirely traversed in a single contig. The 2,178.6 Mb T2T Mo17 genome with a base accuracy of over 99.99% unveiled the structural features of all repetitive regions of the genome. There were several super-long simple-sequence-repeat arrays having consecutive thymine–adenine–guanine (TAG) tri-nucleotide repeats up to 235 kb. The assembly of the entire nucleolar organizer region of the 26.8 Mb array with 2,974 45S rDNA copies revealed the enormously complex patterns of rDNA duplications and transposon insertions. Additionally, complete assemblies of all ten centromeres enabled us to precisely dissect the repeat compositions of both CentC-rich and CentC-poor centromeres. The complete Mo17 genome represents a major step forward in understanding the complexity of the highly recalcitrant repetitive regions of higher plant genomes.

在国际知名期刊Nature Genetics《自然·遗传学》上在线发表了玉米全基因组所有染色体端粒到端粒完整无间隙组装结果，在复杂动植物基因组中第一个实现真正意义上的全基因组完整无间隙组装。该研究是复杂基因组组装领域工程技术研究的重大突破，攻克了复杂动植物基因组组装的最后一道难题，是基因组组装和基因组学研究的一个重要里程碑。

Source：https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-023-01419-6