Structural variation among assembled genomes facilitates development of rapid and low-cost NOR-linked markers and NOR-telomere junction mapping in Arabidopsis

Abstract Bioinformatic alignment of the assembled genomes of Col-0 and Sha ecotypes of Arabidopsis thalianarevealed ~ 10,000 genome-wide structural variants involving simple insertions or deletions and repeat contractions or expansions. Using some of these structural variants, we developed new, rapid, and low-cost PCR-based molecular markers that are genetically linked to the nucleolus organizer regions (NORs). A. thaliana has two NORs, one each on chromosome 2 (NOR2) and chromosome 4 (NOR4). Both NORs are ~ 4 Mb each, and hundreds of 45S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes are tandemly arrayed at these loci. Using previously characterized recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from Col-0 x Sha crosses, we validated the utility of the newly developed NOR-linked markers in genetically mapping rRNA genes and the associated telomeres to either NOR2 or NOR4. Lastly, we sequenced Sha genome using Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT) and used the data to obtain sequences of NOR-telomere junctions, and with the help of RILs, we mapped them as new genetic markers to their respective NORs (NOR2-TEL2N and NOR4-TEL4N). The structural variants obtained from this study would serve as valuable data for genome-wide association studies (GWAS), developing synteny, and to rapidly design more genome-wide genetic (molecular) markers for new gene/trait mapping purposes.