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Flu virus finally sequenced in its native form

Direct sequencing of RNA molecules such as virus genomes could help to unpick role of mysterious chemical modifications in genetic material.
  1. Ewen Callaway
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The genome of the flu virus has been fully sequenced in its native RNA form for the first time. Previously, all influenza genomes — as well as those of other viruses that store their genetic material as RNA — had been determined by copying the molecule into DNA. The native flu genome was generated using ‘nanopore’ sequencing technology, which reads RNA strands as they stream through a tiny molecular channel.

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Nature 556, 420 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-04908-5

References

  1. Keller, M. W. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/300384 (2018).

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