Human genomics is witnessing an ongoing paradigm shift from a single reference sequence to a pangenome form, but populations of Asian ancestry are underrepresented. Here we present data from the first phase of the Chinese Pangenome Consortium, including a collection of 116 high-quality and haplotype-phased de novo assemblies based on 58 core samples representing 36 minority Chinese ethnic groups. With an average 30.65× high-fidelity long-read sequence coverage, an average contiguity N50 of more than 35.63 megabases and an average total size of 3.01 gigabases, the CPC core assemblies add 189 million base pairs of euchromatic polymorphic sequences and 1,367 protein-coding gene duplications to GRCh38. We identified 15.9 million small variants and 78,072 structural variants, of which 5.9 million small variants and 34,223 structural variants were not reported in a recently released pangenome reference1. The Chinese Pangenome Consortium data demonstrate a remarkable increase in the discovery of novel and missing sequences when individuals are included from underrepresented minority ethnic groups. The missing reference sequences were enriched with archaic-derived alleles and genes that confer essential functions related to keratinization, response to ultraviolet radiation, DNA repair, immunological responses and lifespan, implying great potential for shedding new light on human evolution and recovering missing heritability in complex disease mapping.

Knowledge and intellectual capital are the two major resources that influence the setting up of higher education in developed and developing countries. The rising digital era has been crucial in transitioning from heavy dependence on physical assets such as labor to intangible assets such as intellectual capital with the help of digital and social media platforms. Intellectual capital can be considered an essential aspect of the knowledge economy, and together with innovation, they are the mediating factor in the economic growth of most countries. This is because they drive companies to have a competitive advantage in the market and offer talents to multiple industries, significantly increasing their revenue and value. In essence, the idea of intellectual capital has spread around the globe and especially in developing countries where the number of students has been reported in the past decades. However, developing countries still face a challenge in acquiring intellectual capital because of the underlying factors, including poverty and gender inequalities. With the help of a literature review, this report analyses the new intellectual capital delivery model in lower developing countries such as South Africa and Nigeria. The intellectual capital delivery in education is currently delivered through various online education platforms and media.

Human genomics is witnessing an ongoing paradigm shift from a single reference sequence to a pangenome form but populations of Asian ancestry are underrepresented. Here, we present the first effort (Phase I) of the Chinese Pangenome Consortium (CPC) with a collection of 116 high-quality and haplotype-phased de novo assemblies based on 58 core samples representing 36 minority Chinese ethnic groups. With > 30.65× High-Fidelity long-reads sequence coverage, an average contiguity N50 > 35.63 Mb, and an average total size of 3.01 Gb, the CPC core assemblies cover ~96.54% and ~93.59% of the latest reference sequence GRCh38 and a Telomere-to-Telomere haploid assembly T2T-CHM13, respectively. Moreover, the CPC Phase I data add 189 million base pairs of euchromatic polymorphic sequence and 1,367 protein-coding gene duplications to GRCh38. We also identify from the CPC pangenome ~15.9 million small variants and ~78 thousand structural variants (SVs), of which ~6.1 million (38.0%) small variants and ~25 thousand (32.4%) SVs are not reported in a recently released pangenome reference by the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium (HPRC)1. The CPC data demonstrate a remarkable increase in discovering novel or missing sequences when individuals are included from underrepresented minority ethnic groups, suggesting the necessity of a more comprehensive sampling effort for both CPC and HPRC.