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Next-generation sequencing transforms today's biology

Nature Methods volume 5, pages 16–18 (2008)Cite this article

A new generation of non-Sanger-based sequencing technologies has delivered on its promise of sequencing DNA at unprecedented speed, thereby enabling impressive scientific achievements and novel biological applications. However, before stepping into the limelight, next-generation sequencing had to overcome the inertia of a field that relied on Sanger-sequencing for 30 years.

With the ultimate goal of deciphering the human genome, the throughput requirement of DNA sequencing grew by an unpredicted extent, driving developments such as automated capillary electrophoresis. Laboratory automation and process parallelization resulted in the establishment of factory-like enterprises called sequencing centers that house hundreds of DNA sequencing instruments operated by cohorts of personnel. However, even successful completion of the two competing human genome projects did not satisfy biologists' hunger for even greater sequencing throughput and, most importantly, a more economical sequencing technology.

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Acknowledgements

I thank W. Miller and N. Wittekindt for suggestions on the manuscript. The author is funded in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

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  1. Stephan C. Schuster is at Pennsylvania State University, Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, 310 Wartik Building, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA. scs@bx.psu.edu,

    Stephan C Schuster

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Schuster, S. Next-generation sequencing transforms today's biology. Nat Methods 5, 16–18 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth1156

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