Understanding Third Generation DNA Sequencers
January 29, 2013 | Jane Fruchtnicht
First generation DNA sequencers worked by identifying bases in short sections of DNA (50-150 bases at a time). They were accurate, but slow in reassembling data from multiple runs. Second generation machines, revealed longer sequences (up to 5,000 bases), but had high error rates. Third generation machines now are running both long and short sequences and relying on assembly algorithms to accurately sequence whole genomes in a few days time. MORE