Developments in long-read sequencing

 

Advances in clinical genomics have been enabled by short-read sequencing (SRS) technologies, where the DNA is broken into pieces up to 300 base pairs long. While these technologies have many advantages, they also have some limitations. There is growing evidence supporting the value of long-read sequencing (LRS) – where DNA is read in longer segments, typically greater than 10,000 base pairs – to overcome some of these challenges.

 

Heather Turner, Policy Analyst at the PHG Foundation,  explains for you long-read sequencing, its potential applications and how this new technology measures up against traditional short-read sequencing.