Recovery of non-reference sequences missing from the human reference genome

Abstract Background The non-reference sequences (NRS) represent structure variations in human genome with potential functional significance. However, besides the known insertions, it is currently unknown whether other types of structure variations with NRS exist. Results Here, we compared 31 human de novo assemblies with the current reference genome to identify the NRS and their location. We resolved the precise location of 6113 NRS adding up to 12.8 Mb. Besides 1571 insertions, we detected 3041 alternate alleles, which were defined as having less than 90% (or none) identity with the reference alleles. These alternate alleles overlapped with 1143 protein-coding genes including a putative novel MHC haplotype. Further, we demonstrated that the alternate alleles and their flanking regions had high content of tandem repeats, indicating that their origin was associated with tandem repeats. Conclusions Our study detected a large number of NRS including many alternate alleles which are previously uncharacterized. We suggested that the origin of alternate alleles was associated with tandem repeats. Our results enriched the spectrum of genetic variations in human genome.

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Recovery of non-reference sequences missing from the human reference genome

10.21203/rs.2.11742/v2 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Ran Li ◽

Xiaomeng Tian ◽

Peng Yang ◽

Yingzhi Fan ◽

Ming Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Genome ◽

Tandem Repeats ◽

Reference Genome ◽

De Novo ◽

Precise Location ◽

Protein Coding ◽

Human Reference Genome ◽

Mhc Haplotype ◽

Reference Sequences ◽

Flanking Regions

Abstract Background The non-reference sequences (NRS) represent structure variations in human genome with potential functional significance. However, besides the known insertions, it is currently unknown whether other types of structure variations with NRS exist. Results Here, we compared 31 human de novo assemblies with the current reference genome to identify the NRS and their location. We resolved the precise location of 6,113 NRS adding up to 12.8 Mb. Besides 1,571 insertions, we detected 3,041 alternate alleles, which were defined as having less than 90% (or none) identity with the reference alleles. These alternate alleles overlapped with 1,143 protein-coding genes including a putative novel MHC haplotype. Further, we demonstrated that the alternate alleles and their flanking regions had high content of tandem repeats, indicating that their origin was associated with tandem repeats. Conclusions Our study detected a large number of NRS including many alternate alleles which are previously uncharacterized. We suggested that the origin of alternate alleles was associated with tandem repeats. Our results enriched the spectrum of genetic variations in human genome.

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Recovery of non-reference sequences missing from the human reference genome

10.21203/rs.2.11742/v3 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Ran Li ◽

Xiaomeng Tian ◽

Peng Yang ◽

Yingzhi Fan ◽

Ming Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Genome ◽

Tandem Repeats ◽

Reference Genome ◽

De Novo ◽

Precise Location ◽

Protein Coding ◽

Human Reference Genome ◽

Mhc Haplotype ◽

Reference Sequences ◽

Flanking Regions

Abstract Background The non-reference sequences (NRS) represent structure variations in human genome with potential functional significance. However, besides the known insertions, it is currently unknown whether other types of structure variations with NRS exist. Results Here, we compared 31 human de novo assemblies with the current reference genome to identify the NRS and their location. We resolved the precise location of 6,113 NRS adding up to 12.8 Mb. Besides 1,571 insertions, we detected 3,041 alternate alleles, which were defined as having less than 90% (or none) identity with the reference alleles. These alternate alleles overlapped with 1,143 protein-coding genes including a putative novel MHC haplotype. Further, we demonstrated that the alternate alleles and their flanking regions had high content of tandem repeats, indicating that their origin was associated with tandem repeats. Conclusions Our study detected a large number of NRS including many alternate alleles which are previously uncharacterized. We suggested that the origin of alternate alleles was associated with tandem repeats. Our results enriched the spectrum of genetic variations in human genome.

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Recovery of non-reference sequences missing from the human reference genome

10.21203/rs.2.11742/v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Ran Li ◽

Xiaomeng Tian ◽

Peng Yang ◽

Yingzhi Fan ◽

Ming Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tandem Repeats ◽

Reference Genome ◽

De Novo ◽

Precise Location ◽

Protein Coding ◽

Human Reference Genome ◽

Protein Coding Genes ◽

Mhc Haplotype ◽

Reference Sequences ◽

Flanking Regions

Abstract The non-reference sequences (NRS) represent structure variations in human genome with potential functional significance. However, besides the known insertions, it is currently unknown whether other types of structure variations with NRS exist. Here, we compared 31 human de novo assemblies with the current reference genome to identify the NRS and their location. We resolved the precise location of 6,113 NRS adding up to 12.8 Mb. Besides 1,571 insertions, we detected 3,041 alternate alleles, which were defined as having less than 90% (or none) identity with the reference alleles. These alternate alleles overlapped with 1,143 protein-coding genes including a putative novel MHC haplotype. Further, we demonstrated that the alternate alleles and their flanking regions had high content of tandem repeats, indicating that their origin was associated with tandem repeats. Our study enriched the spectrum of human genetic variations.

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Telomere-to-telomere assembly of a complete human X chromosome

10.1101/735928 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

Karen H. Miga ◽

Sergey Koren ◽

Arang Rhie ◽

Mitchell R. Vollger ◽

Ariel Gershman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Genome ◽

X Chromosome ◽

Satellite Dna ◽

Tandem Repeats ◽

Reference Genome ◽

De Novo ◽

Hydatidiform Mole ◽

Segmental Duplications ◽

High Coverage ◽

Current Reference

After nearly two decades of improvements, the current human reference genome (GRCh38) is the most accurate and complete vertebrate genome ever produced. However, no one chromosome has been finished end to end, and hundreds of unresolved gaps persist 1,2. The remaining gaps include ribosomal rDNA arrays, large near-identical segmental duplications, and satellite DNA arrays. These regions harbor largely unexplored variation of unknown consequence, and their absence from the current reference genome can lead to experimental artifacts and hide true variants when re-sequencing additional human genomes. Here we present a de novo human genome assembly that surpasses the continuity of GRCh38 2, along with the first gapless, telomere-to-telomere assembly of a human chromosome. This was enabled by high-coverage, ultra-long-read nanopore sequencing of the complete hydatidiform mole CHM13 genome, combined with complementary technologies for quality improvement and validation. Focusing our efforts on the human X chromosome 3, we reconstructed the ∼2.8 megabase centromeric satellite DNA array and closed all 29 remaining gaps in the current reference, including new sequence from the human pseudoautosomal regions and cancer-testis ampliconic gene families (CT-X and GAGE). This complete chromosome X, combined with the ultra-long nanopore data, also allowed us to map methylation patterns across complex tandem repeats and satellite arrays for the first time. These results demonstrate that finishing the human genome is now within reach and will enable ongoing efforts to complete the remaining human chromosomes.

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A reference-quality, fully annotated genome from a Puerto Rican individual

10.1101/2021.06.10.447952 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Aleksey V Zimin ◽

Alaina Shumate ◽

Ida Shinder ◽

Jakob Heinz ◽

Daniela Puiu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Puerto Rican ◽

Human Genome ◽

Reference Genome ◽

Individual Genome ◽

Protein Coding ◽

Human Reference Genome ◽

Gene Copies ◽

Reference Quality ◽

Assembly Technology ◽

Individual Human

Until 2019, the human genome was available in only one fully-annotated version, which was the result of 18 years of continuous improvement and revision. Despite dramatic improvements in sequencing technology, no other individual human genome was available as an annotated reference until 2019, when the genome of an Ashkenazi individual was released. In this study, we describe the assembly and annotation of a second individual genome, from a Puerto Rican individual whose DNA was collected as part of the Human Pangenome project. The new genome, called PR1, is the first true reference genome created from an individual of African descent. Due to recent improvements in both sequencing and assembly technology, PR1 is more complete and more contiguous than either the human reference genome (GRCh38) or the Ashkenazi genome. Annotation revealed 42,217 genes (of which 20,168 are protein-coding), including 107 additional gene copies that are present in PR1 and missing from GRCh38. 180 genes have fewer copies in PR1 than in GRCh38, 13 map only partially, and 3 genes (1 protein-coding) from GRCh38 are entirely missing from PR1.

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Telomere-to-telomere assembly of a complete human X chromosome

Nature ◽

10.1038/s41586-020-2547-7 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 585 (7823) ◽

pp. 79-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

Karen H. Miga ◽

Sergey Koren ◽

Arang Rhie ◽

Mitchell R. Vollger ◽

Ariel Gershman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Genome ◽

X Chromosome ◽

Tandem Repeats ◽

Reference Genome ◽

Hydatidiform Mole ◽

Gene Families ◽

High Coverage ◽

Single Chromosome ◽

Human Reference Genome ◽

Pseudoautosomal Regions

AbstractAfter two decades of improvements, the current human reference genome (GRCh38) is the most accurate and complete vertebrate genome ever produced. However, no single chromosome has been finished end to end, and hundreds of unresolved gaps persist1,2. Here we present a human genome assembly that surpasses the continuity of GRCh382, along with a gapless, telomere-to-telomere assembly of a human chromosome. This was enabled by high-coverage, ultra-long-read nanopore sequencing of the complete hydatidiform mole CHM13 genome, combined with complementary technologies for quality improvement and validation. Focusing our efforts on the human X chromosome3, we reconstructed the centromeric satellite DNA array (approximately 3.1 Mb) and closed the 29 remaining gaps in the current reference, including new sequences from the human pseudoautosomal regions and from cancer-testis ampliconic gene families (CT-X and GAGE). These sequences will be integrated into future human reference genome releases. In addition, the complete chromosome X, combined with the ultra-long nanopore data, allowed us to map methylation patterns across complex tandem repeats and satellite arrays. Our results demonstrate that finishing the entire human genome is now within reach, and the data presented here will facilitate ongoing efforts to complete the other human chromosomes.

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The sequencing and de novo assembly of the Larimichthys crocea genome using PacBio and Hi-C technologies

Scientific Data ◽

10.1038/s41597-019-0194-3 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Baohua Chen ◽

Zhixiong Zhou ◽

Qiaozhen Ke ◽

Yidi Wu ◽

Huaqiang Bai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Marine Fish ◽

Single Molecule ◽

Large Scale ◽

Reference Genome ◽

De Novo ◽

Larimichthys Crocea ◽

Chromosome Conformation ◽

Protein Coding ◽

Total Length ◽

Chromosome Level

Abstract Larimichthys crocea is an endemic marine fish in East Asia that belongs to Sciaenidae in Perciformes. L. crocea has now been recognized as an “iconic” marine fish species in China because not only is it a popular food fish in China, it is a representative victim of overfishing and still provides high value fish products supported by the modern large-scale mariculture industry. Here, we report a chromosome-level reference genome of L. crocea generated by employing the PacBio single molecule sequencing technique (SMRT) and high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) technologies. The genome sequences were assembled into 1,591 contigs with a total length of 723.86 Mb and a contig N50 length of 2.83 Mb. After chromosome-level scaffolding, 24 scaffolds were constructed with a total length of 668.67 Mb (92.48% of the total length). Genome annotation identified 23,657 protein-coding genes and 7262 ncRNAs. This highly accurate, chromosome-level reference genome of L. crocea provides an essential genome resource to support the development of genome-scale selective breeding and restocking strategies of L. crocea.

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Closing Human Reference Genome Gaps: Identifying and Characterizing Gap-Closing Sequences

G3 Genes|Genome|Genetics ◽

10.1534/g3.120.401280 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 2801-2809 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tingting Zhao ◽

Zhongqu Duan ◽

Georgi Z. Genchev ◽

Hui Lu

Keyword(s):

Reference Genome ◽

De Novo ◽

Sequence Length ◽

Sequencing Data ◽

Human Reference Genome ◽

Satellite Sequences ◽

Long Read ◽

Data Gap ◽

Simple Repeats ◽

Gap Closing

Despite continuous updates of the human reference genome, there are still hundreds of unresolved gaps which account for about 5% of the total sequence length. Given the availability of whole genome de novo assemblies, especially those derived from long-read sequencing data, gap-closing sequences can be determined. By comparing 17 de novo long-read sequencing assemblies with the human reference genome, we identified a total of 1,125 gap-closing sequences for 132 (16.9% of 783) gaps and added up to 2.2 Mb novel sequences to the human reference genome. More than 90% of the non-redundant sequences could be verified by unmapped reads from the Simons Genome Diversity Project dataset. In addition, 15.6% of the non-reference sequences were found in at least one of four non-human primate genomes. We further demonstrated that the non-redundant sequences had high content of simple repeats and satellite sequences. Moreover, 43 (32.6%) of the 132 closed gaps were shown to be polymorphic; such sequences may play an important biological role and can be useful in the investigation of human genetic diversity.

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Towards a reference genome that captures global genetic diversity

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-020-19311-w ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Karen H. Y. Wong ◽

Walfred Ma ◽

Chun-Yu Wei ◽

Erh-Chan Yeh ◽

Wan-Jia Lin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Diversity ◽

Reference Genome ◽

Regulatory Elements ◽

Human Populations ◽

Single Individual ◽

Rna Seq ◽

Human Reference Genome ◽

Reference Sequences ◽

Genome Annotations ◽

Unmapped Reads

Abstract The current human reference genome is predominantly derived from a single individual and it does not adequately reflect human genetic diversity. Here, we analyze 338 high-quality human assemblies of genetically divergent human populations to identify missing sequences in the human reference genome with breakpoint resolution. We identify 127,727 recurrent non-reference unique insertions spanning 18,048,877 bp, some of which disrupt exons and known regulatory elements. To improve genome annotations, we linearly integrate these sequences into the chromosomal assemblies and construct a Human Diversity Reference. Leveraging this reference, an average of 402,573 previously unmapped reads can be recovered for a given genome sequenced to ~40X coverage. Transcriptomic diversity among these non-reference sequences can also be directly assessed. We successfully map tens of thousands of previously discarded RNA-Seq reads to this reference and identify transcription evidence in 4781 gene loci, underlining the importance of these non-reference sequences in functional genomics. Our extensive datasets are important advances toward a comprehensive reference representation of global human genetic diversity.

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De novo assembly of the cattle reference genome with single-molecule sequencing

GigaScience ◽

10.1093/gigascience/giaa021 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Benjamin D Rosen ◽

Derek M Bickhart ◽

Robert D Schnabel ◽

Sergey Koren ◽

Christine G Elsik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Single Molecule ◽

De Novo Assembly ◽

Reference Genome ◽

De Novo ◽

Bos Taurus ◽

Future Research ◽

Protein Coding ◽

Single Molecule Sequencing ◽

Assembly Accuracy ◽

Genomic Tools

Abstract Background Major advances in selection progress for cattle have been made following the introduction of genomic tools over the past 10–12 years. These tools depend upon the Bos taurus reference genome (UMD3.1.1), which was created using now-outdated technologies and is hindered by a variety of deficiencies and inaccuracies. Results We present the new reference genome for cattle, ARS-UCD1.2, based on the same animal as the original to facilitate transfer and interpretation of results obtained from the earlier version, but applying a combination of modern technologies in a de novo assembly to increase continuity, accuracy, and completeness. The assembly includes 2.7 Gb and is >250× more continuous than the original assembly, with contig N50 >25 Mb and L50 of 32. We also greatly expanded supporting RNA-based data for annotation that identifies 30,396 total genes (21,039 protein coding). The new reference assembly is accessible in annotated form for public use. Conclusions We demonstrate that improved continuity of assembled sequence warrants the adoption of ARS-UCD1.2 as the new cattle reference genome and that increased assembly accuracy will benefit future research on this species.

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