Strategies and Tools for Sequencing of the Sesame Genome

The invention of Sanger sequencing initiated the genome era. The development and application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies facilitated genome sequencing in organisms. Here we introduce the main technologies including Sanger sequencing, Roche-454 massive parallel pyrosequencing, Solexa/Illumina sequencing, ABI SOLiD platform, PacBio SMRT platform, HiC sequencing, Oxford nanopore sequencing, and Bionano sequencing platform, as mostly are applied in the Sesame Genome Project (SGP). The characteristics of each technology are briefly discussed. For the SGP, the hybrid sequencing strategies involving the first generation, NGS, and the third generation sequencing technologies are applied to assemble the fine genome map with high accuracy and completeness. Combined with the genome size estimation and genome characters of sesame, the efficient sequencing strategies are elucidated in this section.