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Published online 3 April 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.735
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Sequencing single molecules of DNA
Machine is the first of a new generation to hit the market.
A Massachusetts company has published data from a DNA sequencer that can read individual letters from single molecules of DNA. The machine, produced by Helicos BioSciences, is the first of a new generation of devices, called single-molecule DNA sequencers, to enter the market.
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This is so great!!! But, how the fluorescence of this small sequence are captured by detector?
my major is biochemistry and moleculer biology. In my experiments there are dna fragments to need to be sequenced, but by old ways there are always some mistakes in the result which would have effected my experiments. Now the new way for sequencing the single moleculer of DNA is a big forward step in the field of biology.
Hi, This development is interesting in its medical applications as the genetic basis of illness could be zoom in to the gene in question and an individual therapy be implemented Regards Dr. Terence Hale
A very interesting development; omitting amplification procedures that could bias or introduce errors. Now it may become possible to directly analyze the various methylation patterns on DNA, by their interference with the fluorescent labels (unraveling the methylome?). Looking forward to the new developments! Mark van Passel
It seems that this machine lines between Sequencer FLX and Illumina's sequencer. Similar to Illumina's sequencer, they only can read around 30bp. Of course, it can pick up a tiny mutation inside a gene easily. However, there is a big question mark on the usefulness of this machine to sequence large, complex genomes. I am looking forward to seeing any new development which can sequence long, complex DNA sequence, such as centromeric repeats.