Landscape of Next-Generation Sequencing Technologies

DNA sequencing is in the throes of an enormous technological shift marked by dramatic throughput increases, a precipitously dropping per-base cost of raw sequence, and an accompanying requirement for substantial investment in large capital equipment in order to utilize the technology. Investigations that were, for most, unreachable luxuries just a few years ago (individual genome sequencing, metagenomics studies, and the sequencing of myriad organisms of interest) are being increasingly enabled, at a rapid pace. This Review concentrates on the technology behind the third- and fourth-generation sequencing methods: their challenges, current limitations, and tantalizing promise.