A near-complete Landrace pig ( Sus scrofa ) genome resolves centromeres and telomeres and highlights telomere repeat structures in different pig breeds
- 1Centre for Integrative Genetics (CIGENE), Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) , Ås 1433 ,
- 2Geno SA , Hamar 2317 ,
- 3Norsvin SA , Hamar 2317 ,
Abstract
The Duroc-derived reference genome Sscrofa11.1 has provided a critical foundation for pig genomics, supporting accurate variant detection and comparative analyses, but does not capture breed-specific variation. Here, we present a near-complete genome assembly for the Landrace pig (Landrace_v1, GCA_963921485.1), spanning all 20 chromosomes and totaling 2.6 Gb, including 176 Mb of sequence absent from Sscrofa11.1. Comparative analyses with recently published high-quality pig genomes reveals conserved centromere organization across breeds, accompanied by substantial variation in repeat composition and length, and identifies a pig-specific pattern of telomere variant repeats across eight breeds. The improved resolution of repetitive regions in Landrace_v1 enables more complete reconstruction of complex gene families, including olfactory receptors, and uncovers structural variation at the KIT proto-oncogene receptor tyrosine kinase locus absent from the Duroc reference. Together, these findings highlight limitations of single-reference genomes and demonstrate the value of breed-specific assemblies for capturing genomic diversity and improving downstream analyses.
Related
- A complete reference genome reveals genetic landscape of Brassica centromeres.
- The complete genome of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma phoenicium’ highlights carboxylic acids as primary carbon and energy substrates in phytoplasmas
- Research on the energy absorption performance of diamond structures with axial and transverse porosity gradients under different load-bearing angles
- Active centromeres share a conserved array-architecture signature across great ape genomes
- Mitotic centromeres organize in repeat-subunits with specialized histone landscape and multi-domain architecture as revealed by expansion microscopy
BibTeX
@article{grove2026nearcomplete,
title = {{A near-complete Landrace pig ( Sus scrofa ) genome resolves centromeres and telomeres and highlights telomere repeat structures in different pig breeds}},
author = {Harald Grove and Kristina Stenløkk and Sigbjørn Lien and Arne Gjuvsland and Mariann Árnyasi and Maren van Son and Matthew Kent},
journal = {G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/g3journal/jkag289},
url = {https://academic.oup.com/g3journal/advance-article/doi/10.1093/g3journal/jkag289/9002842},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A near-complete Landrace pig ( Sus scrofa ) genome resolves centromeres and telomeres and highlights telomere repeat structures in different pig breeds
AU - Harald Grove
AU - Kristina Stenløkk
AU - Sigbjørn Lien
AU - Arne Gjuvsland
AU - Mariann Árnyasi
AU - Maren van Son
AU - Matthew Kent
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
JO - G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics
DO - 10.1093/g3journal/jkag289
UR - https://academic.oup.com/g3journal/advance-article/doi/10.1093/g3journal/jkag289/9002842
AB - The Duroc-derived reference genome Sscrofa11.1 has provided a critical foundation for pig genomics, supporting accurate variant detection and comparative analyses, but does not capture breed-specific variation. Here, we present a near-complete genome assembly for the Landrace pig (Landrace_v1, GCA_963921485.1), spanning all 20 chromosomes and totaling 2.6 Gb, including 176 Mb of sequence absent from Sscrofa11.1. Comparative analyses with recently published high-quality pig genomes reveals conserved centromere organization across breeds, accompanied by substantial variation in repeat composition and length, and identifies a pig-specific pattern of telomere variant repeats across eight breeds. The improved resolution of repetitive regions in Landrace_v1 enables more complete reconstruction of complex gene families, including olfactory receptors, and uncovers structural variation at the KIT proto-oncogene receptor tyrosine kinase locus absent from the Duroc reference. Together, these findings highlight limitations of single-reference genomes and demonstrate the value of breed-specific assemblies for capturing genomic diversity and improving downstream analyses.
SN - 2160-1836
ER -