Next-Generation Sequencing Platforms

Automated DNA sequencing instruments embody an elegant interplay among chemistry, engineering, software, and molecular biology and have built upon Sanger's founding discovery of dideoxynucleotide sequencing to performonce-unfathomable tasks. Combinedwith innovative physical map-ping approaches that helped to establish long-range relationships between cloned stretches of genomic DNA, fluorescent DNA sequencers produced reference genome sequences for model organisms and for the reference hu-man genome. New types of sequencing instruments that permit amazing acceleration of data-collection rates for DNA sequencing have been devel-oped. The ability to generate genome-scale data sets is now transforming the nature of biological inquiry. Here, I provide an historical perspective of the field, focusing on the fundamental developments that predated the ad-vent of next-generation sequencing instruments and providing information about how these instruments work, their application to biological research, and the newest types of sequencers that can extract data from single DNA molecules.