Song B, Buckler ES, Stitzer MC. New whole-genome alignment tools are needed for tapping into plant diversity.
Trends Plant Sci 2024;
29:355-369. [PMID:
37749022 DOI:
10.1016/j.tplants.2023.08.013]
[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] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Revised: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/23/2023] [Indexed: 09/27/2023]
Abstract
Genome alignment is one of the most foundational methods for genome sequence studies. With rapid advances in sequencing and assembly technologies, these newly assembled genomes present challenges for alignment tools to meet the increased complexity and scale. Plant genome alignment is technologically challenging because of frequent whole-genome duplications (WGDs) as well as chromosome rearrangements and fractionation, high nucleotide diversity, widespread structural variation, and high transposable element (TE) activity causing large proportions of repeat elements. We summarize classical pairwise and multiple genome alignment (MGA) methods, and highlight techniques that are widely used or are being developed by the plant research community. We also outline the remaining challenges for precise genome alignment and the interpretation of alignment results in plants.
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