The Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium produced a nearly complete human reference sequence, adding bases that were difficult to assemble with earlier technologies.
The newly resolved regions include centromeric satellites, segmental duplications and other repetitive DNA. These regions can influence chromosome behavior and variation, but they are not automatically disease-causing when a difference is observed.
The reference is a foundation for better assembly and variant discovery. It complements, rather than replaces, diverse population references because one reference cannot represent human genetic diversity.
STKEY note: editorial summary based on the original publication; consult the paper for methods and limitations.