Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 26, 2025

Validating Whole Genome Nanopore Sequencing, using Usutu Virus as an Example
Published on: March 11, 2020
Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 sequencing using the ONT GridION and the Illumina MiSeq
Derek Tshiabuila1,2, Jennifer Giandhari3,4, Sureshnee Pillay3,4
1KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP), School of Laboratory Medicine & Medical Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal Durban 4001, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. derektshiabuila@gmail.com.
Background:
Over 4 million SARS-CoV-2 genomes have been sequenced globally in the past 2 years. This has been crucial in elucidating transmission chains within communities, the development of new diagnostic methods, vaccines, and antivirals. Although several sequencing technologies have been employed, Illumina and Oxford Nanopore remain the two most commonly used platforms. The sequence quality between these two platforms warrants a comparison of the genomes produced by the two technologies. Here, we compared the SARS-CoV-2 consensus genomes obtained from the Oxford Nanopore Technology GridION and the Illumina MiSeq for 28 sequencing runs.
Results:
Our results show that the MiSeq had a significantly higher number of consensus genomes classified by Nextclade as good and mediocre compared to the GridION. The MiSeq also had a significantly higher genome coverage and mutation counts than the GridION.
Conclusion:
Due to the low genome coverage, high number of indels, and sensitivity to SARS-CoV-2 viral load noted with the GridION when compared to MiSeq, we can conclude that the MiSeq is more favourable for SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance, as successful genomic surveillance is dependent on high quality, near-whole consensus genomes.
Related Concept Videos
Sanger Sequencing
Next-generation Sequencing
Next-Generation Sequencing Methods
Although all next-generation methods use different technologies, they all share a set of standard features....
RNA-seq
Before the discovery of RNA-seq, microarray-based methods and Sanger sequencing were used for transcriptome analysis. However, while...
Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons
Comparing Copy Number Variations and SNPs
Copy number variations or CNVs are the structural variations that cover more than 1kb of DNA sequence. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), on the other hand, is a single nucleotide change or a point mutation that is found in more than 1%...
Comparing Mitochondrial, Chloroplast, and Prokaryotic Genomes

