Introduction and historical overview of DNA sequencing

The process of DNA sequencing has made tremendous strides in throughput, improved accuracy, ease of production, and lowered cost. As the practice of DNA sequencing has improved, so has the downstream data analysis with sophisticated databases and bioinformatics tools. Together, these advances have enlarged the number of applications upon which DNA sequencing can be brought to bear. This introductory unit provides a description of DNA sequencing with a focus on current and “NextGen” (second and third generation) automated technologies and applications. Curr. Protoc. Mol. Biol. 96:7.0.1-7.0.18. © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Keywords: NextGen DNA sequencing; high-throughput sequencing; epigenomics; transcriptome; ChIP Seq; CNV; copy number variation