Helicos sequences virus with first ever single molecule sequencer method

Scientists from Helicos BioSciences, Ohio University, and Stanford University have published a paper in Science describing the first single-molecule sequencing of a whole genome.

The researchers used a single-molecule sequencing, sequencing-by-synthesis method, developed by Helicos, to sequence the roughly 7,000-nucleotide genome of the M13 virus.  In the company’s version of single-molecule sequencing, an approach first proposed in the late 1980s, nucleic acid templates that are created by digesting genomic DNA are hybridized to primers that are covalently anchored in random positions on a proprietary glass cover slip in a flow cell. Then, a polymerase and labeled DNA bases are added, one nucleotide at a time. After they are incorporated into a complementary strand, these labeled bases are detected by fluorescence imaging. Because a signal is detected from a single DNA molecule, the method obviates the need for amplification by cloning or PCR. And, the researchers say, the availability of a consensus human genome sequence is changing the sequencing landscape.For further information click on:

http://ir.helicosbio.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=303160

Elaine Warburton  www.geneticsandhealth.com