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Pan‐genomics is one of the most powerful means to study genomic variation and obtain a sketch of genes within a defined clade of species. Though there are a lot of computational tools to achieve this, an integrated framework to evaluate their performance and offer the best choice to users has never been achieved. To ease the process of large‐scale prokaryotic genome analysis, we introduce Integrated Prokaryotes Genome and pan‐genome Analysis (IPGA), a one‐stop web service to analyze, compare, and visualize pan‐genome as well as individual genomes, that rids users of installing any specific tools. IPGA features a scoring system that helps users to evaluate the reliability of pan‐genome profiles generated by different packages. Thus, IPGA can help users ascertain the profiling method that is most suitable for their data set for the following analysis. In addition, IPGA integrates several downstream comparative analysis and genome analysis modules to make users achieve diverse targets. Integrated Prokaryotes Genome and pan‐genome Analysis (IPGA) serves as a free and easy‐to‐use web‐based system that could provide up‐to‐date pan‐genome analysis service for non‐bioinformaticians. IPGA offers users the most reliable pan‐genome profile which enables users to perform additional comparative genomic analysis. IPGA provides a series of downstream analysis modules such as phylogenetic inference, synteny inference, and target genome annotation. Highlights IPGA serves as a free and easy‐to‐use web‐based system that could provide up‐to‐date pan‐genome analysis service for non‐bioinformaticians. IPGA offers users the most reliable pan‐genome profile which enables users to perform additional comparative genomic analysis. IPGA provides a series of downstream analysis modules such as phylogenetic inference, synteny inference, and target genome annotation.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are known to improve plant fitness through the establishment of mycorrhizal symbioses. Genetic and phenotypic variations among closely related AMF isolates can significantly affect plant growth, but the genomic changes underlying this variability are unclear. To address this issue, we improved the genome assembly and gene annotation of the model strain Rhizophagus irregularis DAOM197198, and compared its gene content with five isolates of R. irregularis sampled in the same field. All isolates harbor striking genome variations, with large numbers of isolate-specific genes, gene family expansions, and evidence of interisolate genetic exchange. The observed variability affects all gene ontology terms and PFAM protein domains, as well as putative mycorrhiza-induced small secreted effector-like proteins and other symbiosis differentially expressed genes. High variability is also found in active transposable elements. Overall, these findings indicate a substantial divergence in the functioning capacity of isolates harvested from the same field, and thus their genetic potential for adaptation to biotic and abiotic changes. Our data also provide a first glimpse into the genome diversity that resides within natural populations of these symbionts, and open avenues for future analyses of plant-AMF interactions that link AMF genome variation with plant phenotype and fitness.

Summary Studies on structural variation in plants have revealed the inadequacy of a single reference genome for an entire species and suggest that it is necessary to build a species‐representative genome called a pan‐genome to better capture the extent of both structural and nucleotide variation. Here, we present a pan‐genome of cultivated soybean (Glycine max), termed PanSoy, constructed using the de novo genome assembly of 204 phylogenetically and geographically representative improved accessions selected from the larger GmHapMap collection. PanSoy uncovers 108 Mb (˜11%) of novel nonreference sequences encompassing 3621 protein‐coding genes (including 1659 novel genes) absent from the soybean ‘Williams 82’ reference genome. Nonetheless, the core genome represents an exceptionally large proportion of the genome, with >90.6% of genes being shared by >99% of the accessions. A majority of PAVs encompassing genes could be confirmed with long‐read sequencing on a subset of accessions. The PanSoy is a major step towards capturing the extent of genetic variation in cultivated soybean and provides a resource for soybean genomics research and breeding.

Summary Transposable element (TE) is prevalent in plant genomes. However, studies on their impact on phenotypic evolution in crop plants are relatively rare, because systematically identifying TE insertions within a species has been a challenge. Here, we present a novel approach for uncovering TE insertion polymorphisms (TIPs) using pan‐genome analysis combined with population‐scale resequencing, and we adopt this pipeline to retrieve TIPs in a Brassica rapa germplasm collection. We found that 23% of genes within the reference Chiifu‐401‐42 genome harbored TIPs. TIPs tended to have large transcriptional effects, including modifying gene expression levels and altering gene structure by introducing new introns. Among 524 diverse accessions, TIPs broadly influenced genes related to traits and acted a crucial role in the domestication of B. rapa morphotypes. As examples, four specific TIP‐containing genes were found to be candidates that potentially involved in various climatic conditions, promoting the formation of diverse vegetable crops in B. rapa. Our work reveals the hitherto hidden TIPs implicated in agronomic traits and highlights their widespread utility in studies of crop domestication.

[...]we collected re‐sequencing data of 1688 rapeseed accessions with an average depth of 8× (Lu et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2018a, 2018b; Wu et al., 2019). Basic genetic information includes chromosomal location, coding sequence length, exon number, gene structure, alternative splicing, nucleic acid sequence, the encoded protein sequence, expression data, gene ontology, functional domain, gene classification (core/distributed), frequency in subspecies. (Figure 1f). [...]users can access the Gbrowse (https://www.gbrowse.org/) to visualize detailed gene context and upstream/downstream features (Figure 1g).

Improving crop productivity is essential to ensure global food security in the context of climate change and an increasing global population. Over the past few decades, sequencing has significantly expanded our ability to explore complex genomes. However, the inherent genomic complexity of many plant species, characterized by large genome sizes, high repetitiveness and polyploidy, continues to pose significant challenges for genome assembly and the accurate detection of genetic variation. In particular, structural variations, which are key drivers of trait diversity and genome evolution, are often underrepresented in analyses based on a single linear reference genome due to reference bias. To overcome these constraints, the concept of the pan-genome has emerged. By capturing both core and variable sequences/genes across individuals of a species or genus, pan-genomes offer a more comprehensive representation of genomic diversity. This approach has been successfully implemented in many major crops, including complex polyploids like wheat, peanut, cotton, oat and mustard, and is increasingly contributing to ecological and evolutionary research. This review provides an overview of the development of pan-genome approaches and their application in understanding plant genome complexity, with a focus on trait discovery and modern breeding strategies. It also addresses current challenges and outlines future directions for leveraging pan-genomic resources in crop improvement and biodiversity conservation. In addition, the emerging need for polyploid-aware pan-genome frameworks that explicitly resolve subgenomes, homoeolog dosage, and homoeologous exchange is emphasized to enable breeder-ready applications.

Structural variations (SVs) are a major source of domestication and improvement traits. We present the first duck pan‐genome constructed using five genome assemblies capturing ∼40.98 Mb new sequences. This pan‐genome together with high‐depth sequencing data (∼46.5×) identified 101,041 SVs, of which substantial proportions were derived from transposable element (TE) activity. Many TE‐derived SVs anchoring in a gene body or regulatory region are linked to duck's domestication and improvement. By combining quantitative genetics with molecular experiments, we, for the first time, unraveled a 6945 bp Gypsy insertion as a functional mutation of the major gene IGF2BP1 associated with duck bodyweight. This Gypsy insertion, to our knowledge, explains the largest effect on bodyweight among avian species (27.61% of phenotypic variation). In addition, we also examined another 6634 bp Gypsy insertion in MITF intron, which triggers a novel transcript of MITF, thereby contributing to the development of white plumage. Our findings highlight the importance of using a pan‐genome as a reference in genomics studies and illuminate the impact of transposons in trait formation and livestock breeding. We present the first duck pan‐genome constructed using five genome assemblies capturing ∼40.98 Mb new sequences absent from the reference genome. We find a significant portion of the detected structural variants were derived from transposable element (TE) activity. Many of these are located within gene bodies or regulatory regions, potentially linked to duck domestication and enhancement. We used two representative examples to show how TE insertions can lead phenotypic diversity, highlighting IGF2BP1's role in bodyweight and MITF's influence on white plumage in ducks. Notably, the Gypsy insertion in the IGF2BP1 promoter, to our knowledge, explains the largest effect on bodyweight among avian species (27.61% of phenotypic variation). Highlights We present the first duck pan‐genome constructed using five genome assemblies capturing ∼40.98 Mb new sequences absent from the reference genome. We find a significant portion of the detected structural variants were derived from transposable element (TE) activity. Many of these are located within gene bodies or regulatory regions, potentially linked to duck domestication and enhancement. We used two representative examples to show how TE insertions can lead phenotypic diversity, highlighting IGF2BP1's role in bodyweight and MITF's influence on white plumage in ducks. Notably, the Gypsy insertion in the IGF2BP1 promoter, to our knowledge, explains the largest effect on bodyweight among avian species (27.61% of phenotypic variation).

Summary Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an important oil crop renowned for its high oil content and quality. Recently, genome assemblies for five sesame varieties including two landraces (S. indicum cv. Baizhima and Mishuozhima) and three modern cultivars (S. indicum var. Zhongzhi13, Yuzhi11 and Swetha), have become available providing a rich resource for comparative genomic analyses and gene discovery. Here, we employed a reference‐assisted assembly approach to improve the draft assemblies of four of the sesame varieties. We then constructed a sesame pan‐genome of 554.05 Mb. The pan‐genome contained 26 472 orthologous gene clusters; 15 409 (58.21%) of them were core (present across all five sesame genomes), whereas the remaining 41.79% (11 063) clusters and the 15 890 variety‐specific genes were dispensable. Comparisons between varieties suggest that modern cultivars from China and India display significant genomic variation. The gene families unique to the sesame modern cultivars contain genes mainly related to yield and quality, while those unique to the landraces contain genes involved in environmental adaptation. Comparative evolutionary analysis indicates that several genes involved in plant‐pathogen interaction and lipid metabolism are under positive selection, which may be associated with sesame environmental adaption and selection for high seed oil content. This study of the sesame pan‐genome provides insights into the evolution and genomic characteristics of this important oilseed and constitutes a resource for further sesame crop improvement.