The speed, throughput, and accuracy of NGS has revolutionized genetic analysis and enabled new applications in genomic and clinical research, reproductive health, and environmental, agricultural, and forensic science.Ī sequencing “library” must be created from the sample. Additional advantages of NGS include lower sample input requirements, higher accuracy, and ability to detect variants at lower allele frequencies than with Sanger sequencing. NGS provides the ideal throughput per run, and studies can be performed quickly and cost-effectively.
NGS enables the interrogation of hundreds to thousands of genes at one time in multiple samples, as well as discovery and analysis of different types of genomic features in a single sequencing run, from single nucleotide variants (SNVs), to copy number and structural variants, and even RNA fusions. It is also considered the gold-standard sequencing technology, so NGS results are often verified using Sanger sequencing. Sanger sequencing is best for analyzing small numbers of gene targets and samples and can be accomplished in a single day. Introduced for commercial use in 2005, this method was initially called “massively-parallel sequencing”, because it enabled the sequencing of many DNA strands at the same time, instead of one at a time as with traditional Sanger sequencing by capillary electrophoresis (CE).Įach of these technologies has utility in today’s genetic analysis environment. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is a technology for determining the sequence of DNA or RNA to study genetic variation associated with diseases or other biological phenomena.