New whole-genome alignment tools are needed for tapping into plant diversity

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.

Keywords: de novo genome assembly; multiple-genome comparison; plant genome alignment; whole-genome duplication.