Language

English

Publication Date

8-12-2026

Journal

Cell Genomics

DOI

10.1016/j.xgen.2026.101281

PMID

42561951

PMCID

PMC13477028

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

8-6-2026

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

We report a complete rodent telomere-to-telomere genome assembly from the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus. Annotation was enriched with multi-tissue long-read RNA sequencing and uncovered numerous novel genes. Assembly of both sex chromosomes reveals the absence of gene coding in the presumed pseudo-autosomal regions and the presence of centromeric satellite repeats on distal chromosome Y (chrY). We provide evidence of meiotic conjunction between Xp and Yq. The genome assembly reveals several expanded autosomal regions enriched for testis-expressed genes. Finally, we have generated a pangenome from recent high-quality assemblies of 8 distinct inbred rat strain genomes. This allows the strain-specific distribution of structural variation to be examined. Non-allelic homologous recombination has produced multiple copies of several genes with evidence of transcription from duplicated copies.

Keywords

Animals, Telomere, Rats, Genome, Male, Meiosis, Centromere, Y Chromosome, genome asembly, telomere to telomere, centromere, pseudo-autosomal region, meiosis, pangenome

Published Open-Access

yes

Additional Files
ga1.jpg (303 kB)
Graphical Abstract
Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.