A pangenome reference and population studies link structural variants with breeding traits in Gossypium hirsutum - PubMed
5 hours ago
- #cotton
- #breeding
- #genomics
- A telomere-to-telomere (T2T) genome was assembled for the elite cotton cultivar NDM13.
- Near-T2T genomes were also assembled for 27 other Gossypium hirsutum representatives.
- Transcriptomic profiling was conducted on 15 distinct tissues from each cultivar.
- 51,551 conserved orthologs were identified across all genomes.
- Structural variations (SVs), segmental duplications, and copy number variants were analyzed for their impact on gene expression and adversity resistances.
- Divergent SVs and genes linked to modern breeding evolution were identified.
- A pangenome was constructed using T2T-reference and 761,536 SVs from 1,671 worldwide accessions.
- Hidden SVs influencing critical breeding traits were discovered.
- The findings are expected to enhance genetic studies and biotechnological improvements in cotton.