Researchers introduced PanMAN (Pangenome Mutation‑Annotated Network), a new data structure and compression method that encodes phylogenies, mutations and whole‑genome alignments to dramatically reduce storage for large pangenome datasets. The method, published in Nature Genetics by a UC San Diego–led team, stores a base reference at the phylogenetic root and annotates variation via a coordinate system tied to the tree. Authors tested PanMAN on massive SARS‑CoV‑2 datasets and demonstrated orders‑of‑magnitude reductions in storage costs while preserving biologically relevant information. The approach aims to make population‑scale genomics and continuous phylogenetic updates tractable for researchers and public‑health efforts.