Whole Genome Network
What is whole genome sequencing?
Whole genome sequencing is analyzing the genes and its entire nucleotide sequences of an organism. Through this process, you would be able to decode the order of the letter or nucleotide bases, A's, C's, G's and T's, that are the building blocks of an organism. Take the human genome for example, from whole genome sequencing, we have established nearly 3 billion of our nucleotides.
How does it work?
Whole genome sequencing has been instrumental in identifying inherited disorders, characterizing the mutations that aids cancer progression, and tracking disease outbreaks. It also delivers a comprehensive view of the entire genome. Whole genome sequencing is done by high-tech machines. These machines will then read a segment of DNA, then decipher its code to establish the order of the nucleotide bases. Scientists must break the genome down to smaller segments, analyze their sequence, then reassemble them back in the order they originally were in. Once they have the sequence, they look at all the changes in the genome and try to interpret them. Interpreting takes the longest because it requires a lot of research on each of the changes. Often, there is little to no information on the sequences as it is still new research, takes a long time to analyze and is quite complex. A lot of the work involved in sequencing is relatively like putting together a giant biological jigsaw puzzle.
How has whole genome sequencing changed since it was invented?
Today, genome sequencing relies on a newer and automated technology called next-generation sequencing. This program can analyze large segments of DNA in a matter of days for a far cheaper price. Using next-generation sequencing we can now sequence something as big as someone's whole exome, which is all the DNA that codes for proteins. Before this was invented, we had to use Sanger sequencing, a process named after Frederick Sanger. This method was very time consuming and expensive. Since the time of using Sanger sequencing, scientists have automated it to use in labs to read smaller segments of DNA. In comparison, the new-generation sequencing is by far better. If we tried to use Sanger sequencing to sequence the whole human genome, it would take years. Next-generation sequencing takes only a handful of days. The first time we used Sanger sequencing in 1990 it cost $2.7 billion and took 13 years. Now, using next-generation sequencing, it would take only a matter of days and under $10 000.