#39 · Genomics

Structural variants in parasite genomes shape drug response and population structure

The dominant thread is the characterization of genomic variation across pathogen populations at structural resolution. PfPan, a 13-genome Plasmodium falciparum pangenome built with Minigraph-Cactus, reports over 5,000 structural variants and improves SV discovery and genotyping. In Schistosoma japonicum, a structural variant map of 72 genomes reports that SVs shape population structure and praziquantel response signatures. The Trypanosoma cruzi single-cell atlas, covering over 31,000 cells, addresses a complementary axis: parasite population heterogeneity and differentiation across the life cycle, with stage annotation and surface antigen repertoires. What is new relative to the prior clinical-variant focus is the application of these methods to pathogen-level variation, with graph-based pangenome representation as a central tool.