The pangenome of an agronomically important crop plant Brassica oleracea.

There is an increasing awareness that as a result of structural variation, a reference sequence representing a genome of a single individual is unable to capture all of the gene repertoire found in the species. A large number of genes affected by presence/absence and copy number variation suggest that it may contribute to phenotypic and agronomic trait diversity. Here we show by analysis of the Brassica oleracea pangenome that nearly 20% of genes are affected by presence/absence variation. Several genes displaying presence/absence variation are annotated with functions related to major agronomic traits, including disease resistance, flowering time, glucosinolate metabolism and vitamin biosynthesis.
Competing Interests: W.R.M. has participated in Illumina-sponsored meetings over the past 4 years and has received travel reimbursement and an honorarium for presenting at these events. Illumina had no role in decisions relating to the study/work to be published, data collection, analysis of data and the decision to publish. W.R.M. has participated in Pacific Biosciences-sponsored meetings over the past 3 years and received travel reimbursement for presenting at these events. W.R.M. is a founder and shared holder of Orion Genomics, which focuses on plant genomics and cancer genetics. W.R.M. is an SAB member for RainDance Technologies, Inc. The remaining authors declare no competing financial interests.