Genome-wide sequence analysis of the maize FV2 inbred line provides new insights into molecular and chromosomal features of Presence/Absence Variants and their implication in European maize genetic originality

Maize is well known for its exceptional structural diversity, including copy number variants (CNVs) and presence/absence variants (PAVs). Analysis of this structural variation (SV) has recently been extended at the whole genome scale using high throughput technologies such as microarray hybridization or massive parallel sequencing. However, maize structural variation has been characterized mainly for American material, and very little is known about its extent in the European germplasm. To extend maize SV discovery, we genome-sequenced the French FV2 inbred line, which played a key role in European breeding programs over the past 50 years.