A DNA sequencer is an instrument used to automatically determine the precise order of nucleotide bases in a sample of DNA, a task that early instruments accomplished by detecting fluorescently labeled DNA fragments as they were separated by size, typically via capillary electrophoresis, and that modern high-throughput instruments now accomplish through massively parallel chemical and optical or electronic detection methods able to sequence millions of DNA fragments simultaneously. Automated DNA sequencing instruments emerged in the mid-1980s, building on the sequencing chemistry developed by Frederick Sanger in the 1970s, and capillary-based automated sequencers of this kind were the workhorse instruments of large sequencing efforts including the Human Genome Project, completed in the early 2000s. Since the mid-2000s, a new generation of so-called next-generation sequencing instruments has dramatically increased sequencing speed and reduced cost, and DNA sequencers are now central instruments across genomics research, clinical diagnostics, agricultural science and evolutionary biology.
Facts
Invented YearSourced to the subject's own account MeasuresSourced to the subject's own accountThe order of nucleotides (adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine) in a DNA molecule. 1 Operating PrincipleSourced to the subject's own accountModern instruments read bases through real-time sequencing-by-synthesis, detecting each nucleotide as it is incorporated onto a growing DNA strand. 1 ResolutionSourced to the subject's own accountSome single-molecule methods record base positions at single-nucleotide resolution by tracking the changing distance of markers during synthesis. 1 Operating RangeSourced to the subject's own accountLong-read single-molecule methods routinely read 20,000 nucleotides or more per read, averaging about 5 kilobases. 1 Classification
Instrument ClassSourced to the subject's own account Connections
Invented By
Sanger developed the chain-termination (Sanger) sequencing method in 1977, the basis of the first practical DNA sequencers, work recognized in his second Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1980).
Used In
Genomics, Disciplines The DNA sequencer reads nucleotide order and is the foundational instrument of genomics, from Sanger sequencing through modern high-throughput platforms.
Sources
1. DNA Sequencing (Wikipedia)
WikipediaChain-termination methods section
The chain-termination method developed by Frederick Sanger and coworkers in 1977 soon became the method of choice, owing to its relative ease and reliability.
Lead section, opening sentence
DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence, the order of nucleotides in DNA.
Sequencing by synthesis section
This principle of real-time sequencing-by-synthesis has been used for almost all massive parallel sequencing instruments, including 454, PacBio, IonTorrent, Illumina and MGI.
RNAP sequencing section
RNAP motion during transcription brings the beads in closer and their relative distance changes, which can then be recorded at a single nucleotide resolution.
Single molecule real time (SMRT) sequencing section
This approach allows reads of 20,000 nucleotides or more, with average read lengths of 5 kilobases.
Lede, instrument class
A DNA sequencer is an instrument used to automatically determine the precise order of nucleotide bases in a sample of DNA, a task that early instruments accomplished by detecting fluorescently labeled DNA fragments as they were separated by size, typically via capillary electrophoresis, and that modern high-throughput instruments now accomplish through massively parallel chemical and optical or electronic detection methods able to sequence millions of DNA fragments simultaneously.
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