Long-Read Sequencing is Revolutionizing Genomics. We Help You to get the Most out of it!

genexa not only applies the latest long-read sequencing technologies to deliver high quality services – we are also open to support you establishing these technologies for your applications. Learn why you might benefit from using long-read technologies and how we can support you.

WHAT IS LONG-READ SEQUENCING?

Long-read (also "third-generation") sequencing can, as the name says, generate very long sequencing reads. In contrast to short read technologies which generate reads of up to several hundred base pairs in length, long reads can be up to dozens or even hundreds of kilobases in length.

There are two major players in the field:


  • Pacific Biosystems® (PacBio) (SMRT® Sequencing). PacBio's "Sequel" and "RS II" systems are quite expensive and rather big devices which means they are mostly operated by sequencing centers.

  • Oxford Nanopore Technologies® (MinION®, GridION® and PromethION® devices). In particular, the MinION is very small (like an office stapler) and extremely competitive in price. Setting up your lab to do sequencing with this technology does not cost much!

An important plus is that both technologies are capable of directly detecting methylated DNA.
Learn more about those technologies here.

SOME ADVANTAGES OF LONG READS

In general:
  • Most long-read sequencing applications do not require a PCR step. Hence, there are no amplification artifacts in your data.

  • With Oxford Nanopore Technologies, rapid sequencing and analysis within a few hours is possible.

For de novo sequencing and assembly:

  • Highly contiguous and less ambiguous assemblies (assemblies are much less fragmented compared to traditional short read methods). This is the case because long reads can mostly span repetitive regions on the genome.

  • The individual DNA molecules (for example chromosomes, plasmids in bacteria) can mostly be distinguished from each other using long reads. With short reads, there is the risk of losing this highly relevant information.

For transcriptomics:

  • Effective and improved detection of transcript variants (longer transcript reads).

  • Using Oxford Nanopore Technologies, direct RNA sequencing without a cDNA step is possible.

We assist you to establish long-read sequencing for your application. Contact us.