European Flint reference sequences complement the maize pan-genome

Abstract

The genomic diversity of maize is reflected by a large number of SNPs and substantial structural variation. Here, we report the de novo assembly of two European Flint maize lines to remedy the scarcity of sequence resources for the Flint pool. EP1 and F7 are important founder lines of European hybrid breeding programs. The lines were sequenced on an Illumina platform at 320X and 225X coverage. Using NRGene{acute}s DeNovoMAGIC 2.0 technology, pseudochromosomes were assembled encompassing a total of 2,463 Mb for EP1 and 2,405 Mb for F7. Structural and functional annotation of the two genomes is currently in progress. The two high-quality de novo assemblies complement the existing maize pan-genome and will pave the way for future functional and comparative studies.