Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 18, 2026

11:26
Sequencing of mRNA from Whole Blood using Nanopore Sequencing
Published on: June 3, 2019
Perspectives and challenges of emerging single-molecule DNA sequencing technologies
Mingsheng Xu1, Daisuke Fujita, Nobutaka Hanagata
1International Center for Young Scientists National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. XU.Mingsheng@nims.go.jp
Small (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany)
|November 12, 2009
Summary
New DNA sequencing technologies accelerate biological research and personalized medicine. Single-molecule sequencing offers rapid, inexpensive, and accurate genomic data, overcoming current challenges for future advancements.
Area of Science:
- Genomics
- Biotechnology
- Personalized Medicine
Background:
- Increasing demand for genome analysis in species, cancer, and human genetics.
- Genetic variation's role in disease necessitates advanced sequencing.
- Need for rapid and cost-effective DNA sequencing technologies.
Purpose of the Study:
- Review newly launched and emerging single-molecule DNA sequencing approaches.
- Critically discuss current challenges of these technologies.
- Explore potential methods to overcome these challenges.
Main Methods:
- Focus on non-Sanger reaction-based DNA sequencing.
- Review single-molecule sequencing technologies based on fluorescence detection.
- Analyze emerging single-molecule DNA sequencing approaches.
Main Results:
- Two single-molecule sequencing technologies based on fluorescence detection are operational.
- Emerging approaches promise accelerated biological and biomedical research.
- Advancements pave the way for personalized medicine.
Conclusions:
- Further R&D in single-molecule sequencing is crucial.
- Overcoming current challenges will enable nearly error-free genomic data.
- Timely and inexpensive genomic data acquisition is the ultimate goal.
Related Concept Videos
Sanger Sequencing
DNA sequencing is a fundamental technique that is routinely used in the biological sciences. This method can be applied to a range of questions at different scales - from the sequencing of a cloned DNA fragment or the study of a mutation in a gene up to whole-genome sequencing. However, despite the widespread use of sequencing today, it was not until 1977 that Fredrick Sanger and his collaborators developed the chain-termination method to decode DNA sequences. It relies on the separation of a...
Next-generation Sequencing
The first human genome sequencing project cost $2.7 billion and was declared complete in 2003, after 15 years of international cooperation and collaboration between several research teams and funding agencies. Today, with the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies, the cost and time of sequencing a human genome have dropped over 100 fold.
Next-Generation Sequencing Methods
Although all next-generation methods use different technologies, they all share a set of standard features.
Next-Generation Sequencing Methods
Although all next-generation methods use different technologies, they all share a set of standard features.
Maxam-Gilbert Sequencing
In the same year as the discovery of the Sanger sequencing method, another group of scientists, Allan Maxam and Walter Gilbert, demonstrated their chemical-cleavage method for DNA sequencing. The Maxam-Gilbert method relies on using different chemicals that can cleave the DNA sequence at specific sites, the separation of resulting DNA fragments of variable size using electrophoresis, and deciphering the DNA sequence from the resulting gel bands.
Challenges of the Maxam-Gilbert Method
The...
Challenges of the Maxam-Gilbert Method
The...
RNA-seq
RNA sequencing, or RNA-Seq, is a high-throughput sequencing technology used to study the transcriptome of a cell. Transcriptomics helps to interpret the functional elements of a genome and identify the molecular constituents of an organism. Additionally, it also helps in understanding the development of an organism and the occurrence of diseases.
Before the discovery of RNA-seq, microarray-based methods and Sanger sequencing were used for transcriptome analysis. However, while microarray-based...
Before the discovery of RNA-seq, microarray-based methods and Sanger sequencing were used for transcriptome analysis. However, while microarray-based...
Modern Molecular Taxonomy
Advancements in molecular biology have revolutionized the identification and characterization of bacteria, with multiple methods leveraging DNA sequencing for enhanced precision. As sequencing technologies improve and costs decline, these approaches are increasingly used in clinical, environmental, and evolutionary studies.Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) examines several housekeeping genes, essential chromosomal genes encoding cellular functions, to distinguish strains. Approximately...

