THE HUMAN AND PLANT RESEARCH COMMUNITIES HAVE IDENTIFIED SUBSTANTIAL NUMBERS OF GENES, NOT PRESENT, IN THE REFERENCE GENOME, DEMONSTRATING THE NEED FOR DEVELOPMENT OF PANGENOME RESOURCES. AVAILABLE SEQUENCE DATA IN SHEEP SUGGEST THAT DIVERSITY OF OVINE GENOMES AMONG EXISTING GLOBAL POPULATIONS WILL EXCEED THAT OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO DELIVER HIGH-QUALITY GENOMES, USING THE RECENTLY DESCRIBE TRIO BINNING APPROACH, FOR EIGHT BREEDS/SPECIES OF SHEEP SELECTED FOR THEIR DIVERGENT ECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT TRAITS WHICH WILL SERVE AS THE BASIS OF THE OVINE PANGENOME.THIS RESEARCH EFFORT WILL LEVERAGE COMPLEMENTARY EFFORTS INCLUDING GENOME ASSEMBLY, TRANSCRIPTOME, AND FUNCTIONAL ANNOTATION EFFORTS, AND PROVIDE TRAINING FOR STUDENTS IN THE FIELD OF ANIMAL GENOMICS. FURTHER, IT WILL ENHANCE EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY STRUCTURAL AND SEQUENCE VARIANTS THAT INFLUENCE PHENOTYPIC VARIATION IN ECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT TRAITS OF SHEEP. THE OVINE PANGENOME PROJECT WILL INCREASE OUR UNDERSTANDINGOF HOW DIFFERENT GENOMES AND GENE PRODUCTS FROM DIVERSE BREEDS OF SHEEP AFFECT A VARIETY OF IMPORTANT BIOLOGICAL PHENOTYPES, SUPPORTING MORE ACCURATE PREDICTION OF TRAITS AND IMPROVING BREEDING STRATEGIES. THE PANGENOME WILL CONTRIBUTE TO COMPARATIVE STUDIES ACROSS SPECIES, WHILE COMPLEMENTING AND LEVERAGING THE PANGENOME BEING CONSTRUCTED FOR CATTLE.