🌱 This resource provides a foundation for genomics-assisted breeding in this challenging autotetraploid crop that feeds over a billion people globally, with particular utility for complex traits governed by multiple loci across different haplotypes!

7/7

🍟 We demonstrate this by generating megabase-scale pseudo-genome assemblies for modern cultivars using only cost-effective short reads - including for 'Russet Burbank', THE famous French Fries potato!

6/7

📊 Yet, our assemblies already cover ~85% of all European potato genetic diversity, indicating most haplotype diversity in Europe is already captured. To demonstrate practical utility, we converted the pan-genome into a haplotype-graph that enables megabase-scale phasing from short reads only!

5/7

🌎 The explanation? While multiple bottlenecks during the potato’s journey from South America to Europe – and later the Irish Potato Famine – reduced haplotype diversity, the high sequence diversity likely stems from wild species introgressions during domestication.

4/7

🧩 Paradoxically, despite the high sequence diversity, haplotype diversity was remarkably constrained. From 40 potential distinct haplotypes, we found an average of only 9 unique haplotypes per genomic region.

3/7

🧬 We observed extreme sequence diversity between haplotypes of ~ 1 variant per 56 bp between haplotype pairs – the highest reported in any domesticated crop so far!

2/7