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Rice ES, Alberdi A, Alfieri J, Athrey G, Balacco JR, Bardou P, Blackmon H, Charles M, Cheng HH, Fedrigo O, Fiddaman SR, Formenti G, Frantz LAF, Gilbert MTP, Hearn CJ, Jarvis ED, Klopp C, Marcos S, Mason AS, Velez-Irizarry D, Xu L, Warren WC. A pangenome graph reference of 30 chicken genomes allows genotyping of large and complex structural variants. BMC Biol 2023; 21:267. [PMID: 37993882 PMCID: PMC10664547 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-023-01758-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 11/24/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The red junglefowl, the wild outgroup of domestic chickens, has historically served as a reference for genomic studies of domestic chickens. These studies have provided insight into the etiology of traits of commercial importance. However, the use of a single reference genome does not capture diversity present among modern breeds, many of which have accumulated molecular changes due to drift and selection. While reference-based resequencing is well-suited to cataloging simple variants such as single-nucleotide changes and short insertions and deletions, it is mostly inadequate to discover more complex structural variation in the genome. METHODS We present a pangenome for the domestic chicken consisting of thirty assemblies of chickens from different breeds and research lines. RESULTS We demonstrate how this pangenome can be used to catalog structural variants present in modern breeds and untangle complex nested variation. We show that alignment of short reads from 100 diverse wild and domestic chickens to this pangenome reduces reference bias by 38%, which affects downstream genotyping results. This approach also allows for the accurate genotyping of a large and complex pair of structural variants at the K feathering locus using short reads, which would not be possible using a linear reference. CONCLUSIONS We expect that this new paradigm of genomic reference will allow better pinpointing of exact mutations responsible for specific phenotypes, which will in turn be necessary for breeding chickens that meet new sustainability criteria and are resilient to quickly evolving pathogen threats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward S Rice
- Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
| | - Antton Alberdi
- Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - James Alfieri
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Giridhar Athrey
- Department of Poultry Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Jennifer R Balacco
- Vertebrate Genome Laboratory, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Philippe Bardou
- Sigenae, GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, Castanet Tolosan, 31326, France
| | - Heath Blackmon
- Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Mathieu Charles
- University Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, GABI, Sigenae, Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Hans H Cheng
- Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory, USDA, ARS, USNPRC, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Olivier Fedrigo
- Vertebrate Genome Laboratory, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Giulio Formenti
- Vertebrate Genome Laboratory, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Laurent A F Frantz
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4DQ, UK
| | - M Thomas P Gilbert
- Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Cari J Hearn
- Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory, USDA, ARS, USNPRC, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Erich D Jarvis
- Vertebrate Genome Laboratory, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
- The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
| | - Christophe Klopp
- Sigenae, Genotoul Bioinfo, MIAT UR875, INRAE, Castanet Tolosan, France
| | - Sofia Marcos
- Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Copenhagen, Denmark
- Applied Genomics and Bioinformatics, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Bilbao, Spain
| | | | | | - Luohao Xu
- Key Laboratory of Freshwater Fish Reproduction and Development (Ministry of Education), Key Laboratory of Aquatic Science of Chongqing, School of Life Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Wesley C Warren
- Department of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
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