Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Next-generation Sequencing of 16S Ribosomal RNA Gene Amplicons
Published on: August 29, 2014
Sensitive, specific polymorphism discovery in bacteria using massively parallel sequencing
Chad Nusbaum1, Toshiro K Ohsumi, James Gomez
1Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, 320 Charles Street, Cambridge, MA 02141, USA.
Abstract:
Our variant ascertainment algorithm, VAAL, uses massively parallel DNA sequence data to identify differences between bacterial genomes with high sensitivity and specificity. VAAL detected approximately 98% of differences (including large insertion-deletions) between pairs of strains from three species while calling no false positives. VAAL also pinpointed a single mutation between Vibrio cholerae genomes, identifying an antibiotic's site of action by identifying sequence differences between drug-sensitive strains and drug-resistant derivatives.
Related Concept Videos
Modern Molecular Taxonomy
Applications of Molecular Taxonomy
Methods of Classification and Identification

