Unravelling large, diverse crop genomes with graphical pangenomics – Faba bean as a case study

In this project, we will construct a faba bean pangenome using eight high-quality genome assemblies of diverse faba bean accessions and further assess diversity in twenty additional genotypes. The faba bean pangenome will become a new genomics-based faba bean improvement resource. Considering the extremely large V. faba genome size of over 13 billion base pairs, analysis of the corresponding pangenome requires the development of suitable analytical approaches including the construction of a pangenome graph that can be used to represent the sequence content along with corresponding functional annotation of a larger population in a single data structure. One of the key aspects of this project will be a better understating of the extent of gene and repeat content variation within the faba bean germplasm used in modern breeding programs.