Despite only 8% of cattle being found in Europe, European breeds dominate current genetic resources. This adversely impacts cattle research in other important global cattle breeds, especially those from Africa for which genomic resources are particularly limited, despite their disproportionate importance to the continent’s economies. To mitigate this issue, we have generated assemblies of African breeds, which have been integrated with genomic data for 294 diverse cattle into a graph genome that incorporates global cattle diversity. We illustrate how this more representative reference assembly contains an extra 116.1 Mb (4.2%) of sequence absent from the current Hereford sequence and consequently inaccessible to current studies. We further demonstrate how using this graph genome increases read mapping rates, reduces allelic biases and improves the agreement of structural variant calling with independent optical mapping data. Consequently, we present an improved, more representative, reference assembly that will improve global cattle research.

The severity of the novel 2019 Coronavirus leaves much trepidation, anxiety and desperate measures are taken to curb the pandemic. Such measures according to WHO include hygiene, isolation and social distancing. If clustering of people is considered a major catalyst in the spread of corona virus, social distancing is therefore important for its control. But compliance has remained a concern, especially in Nigeria. We examine the concept and global trends in social distancing in infectious disease control and the negative feedback on public health as revealed in current body of knowledge from news media and other literatures. The risks associated with failure to comply with social distancing as a result of ignorance or defiance are highlighted.

Despite only 8% of cattle being found in Europe, European breeds dominate current genetic resources. This adversely impacts cattle research in other important global cattle breeds. To mitigate this issue, we have generated the first assemblies of African breeds, which have been integrated with genomic data for 294 diverse cattle into the first graph genome that incorporates global cattle diversity. We illustrate how this more representative reference assembly contains an extra 116.1Mb (4.2%) of sequence absent from the current Hereford sequence and consequently inaccessible to current studies. We further demonstrate how using this graph genome increases read mapping rates, reduces allelic biases and improves the agreement of structural variant calling with independent optical mapping data. Consequently, we present an improved, more representative, reference assembly that will improve global cattle research.

Porcine circovirus‐2 (PCV‐2) is associated with several disease syndromes in domestic pigs that have a significant impact on global pig production and health. Currently, little is known about the status of PCV‐2 in Africa. In this study, a total of 408 archived DNA samples collected from pigs in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia between 2000 and 2018 were screened by PCR for the presence of PCV‐2. Positive amplicons of the gene encoding the viral capsid protein (ORF2) were sequenced to determine the genotypes circulating in each country. Four of the nine currently known genotypes of PCV‐2 were identified (i.e. PCV‐2a, PCV‐2b, PCV‐2d and PCV‐2 g) with more than one genotype being identified in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Senegal and Zambia. Additionally, a phylogeographic analysis which included 38 additional ORF2 gene sequences of PCV‐2s previously identified in Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa from 2014 to 2016 and 2019 to 2020 and available in public databases, demonstrated the existence of several African‐specific clusters and estimated the approximate time of introduction of PCV‐2s into Africa from other continents. This is the first in‐depth study of PCV‐2 in Africa and it has important implications for pig production at both the small‐holder and commercial farm level on the continent.