Efficient Sequencing, Assembly, and Annotation of Human KIR Haplotypes

The homology, recombination, variation, and repetitive elements in the natural killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) region has made full haplotype DNA interpretation impossible without physical separation of chromosomes. Here, we present a new approach using long-read sequencing to efficiently capture, sequence, and assemble diploid human KIR haplotypes. Sequences for capture probe design were derived from public full-length gene and haplotype sequences. IDT xGen® Lockdown probes were used to capture 2-8 kb of sheared DNA fragments followed by sequencing on a PacBio Sequel. The sequences were error corrected, binned, and then assembled using the Canu assembler. The assembly was evaluated on 16 individuals (8 African American and 8 Europeans) from whom ground truth was known via long-range sequencing on fosmid-isolated chromosomes. Using only 18 capture probes, the results show that the assemblies cover 97% of the GenBank reference, are 99.97% concordant, and it takes only 1.8 contigs to cover 75% of the reference. We also report the first assembly of diploid KIR haplotypes from long-read WGS, including the first sequencing of cB05∼tB01, which pairs a KIR2DS2 / KIR2DS3 fusion with the tB01 region. Our targeted hybridization probe capture and sequencing approach is the first of its kind to fully sequence and phase all diploid human KIR haplotypes, and it is efficient enough for population-scale studies and clinical use.