SOLiD start for sequencing technology

Applied Biosystems has officially launched its next-generation DNA sequencing platform, the SOLiD system.

SOLiD, which stands for Supported Oligo Ligation Detection, uses micro-bead sample preparation with high throughput multi-colour fluorescence imaging.

It differs from current approaches by using ligation probes rather than the current polymerase-based approach.

In a statement, the company said the SOLiD system used a proprietary technology called stepwise ligation, which generates high-quality data for applications including whole genome sequencing, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), microbial sequencing, digital karyotyping, medical sequencing, genotyping, gene expression, and small RNA discovery, among others.

"The SOLiD System has a raw base accuracy greater than 99.94 per cent after 2-base encoding, a mechanism that discriminates random or systematic errors from true single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)," the company said.

"This represents a five-fold higher accuracy than any data currently published to date on alternative next-generation sequencing platforms."

Applied Biosystems bought the technology from Massachusetts-based genetic analysis company Agencourt Personal Genomics (APG) last year.

It released the technology for testing by users through an early-access program in June of this year.

"Since then, the platform has improved throughput 4-fold and increased read lengths by 40%," the company said.

"The current system is capable of delivering up to four billion bases of sequence data per run, establishing it as the highest throughput next-generation sequencing platform available today."

One institution already using the SOLiD system is the genomics and computational biology group at the University of Queensland's Institute of Molecular Bioscience.

The IMB's Dr Sean Grimmond's team is using the system to study the transcriptome to better understand important cellular processes such as cell differentiation, kidney damage and repair, and tumour initiation and progression.

The transcriptome is the set of all messenger RNA transcripts produced from genes and genomic regulatory regions of one or an entire population of cells. Grimmond's team is using the SOLiD System for transcriptome analysis to measure the amounts of relevant variant mRNA transcripts expressed in animal models.

"There is a potential to sequence the transcriptome in its entirety using short read lengths," Grimmond said.

"Understanding the transcriptome in a biological context will help us to uncover breakdowns in molecular pathways that lead to complex disease."

For more information on the system, see www.biotechnews.com.au/index.php?id=1782548667