Power spectrum curve compensation method for image quality enhancement in high-throughput gene sequencing

Area of Science:

• Genomics
• Biotechnology
• Image Processing

Background:

• High-throughput gene sequencing relies on high-quality images for accurate base calling.
• Time delay integration (TDI) push-scan imaging in sequencers degrades image quality along the scan direction.
• Existing TDI image restoration methods for gene sequencing are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To model the imaging spectrum of sequencing images from MGI's ultra-high-throughput sequencer.
• To analyze the causes and mechanisms of image quality degradation in TDI push-scanning.
• To develop and validate a method for enhancing TDI sequencing image quality.

Main Methods:

• Established an imaging spectrum model for sequencing images.
• Analyzed power spectral projection curves of stare-mode versus TDI push-scan imaging.
• Proposed a power spectrum curve compensation (PSCC) method for quality optimization.
• Developed a novel evaluation framework for sequencing image quality.

Main Results:

• Optimized images showed increased energy concentration by 9.13% (TDI direction) and 4.64% (perpendicular).
• Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improved by 6.90% for base A and 4.99% for base C.
• Base calling accuracy (Q30) saw an improvement of 1.67%.

Conclusions:

• The PSCC method effectively enhances TDI sequencing image quality.
• Improved image quality directly translates to higher base calling accuracy.
• This work addresses a critical limitation in current gene sequencing technologies.