Table 1 Summary of massively parallel sequencing technologies
Method | Amplification | Read length (base pairs) | Templates per run | Data production/day | Sequence reaction | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Commercially available technologies | ||||||
   ABI 3730xI | PCR | ~900 to 1,100 | 96 | 1 Mb/day | Sanger method | |
   454 FLX Roche | Emulsion PCR | ~400 | 1,000,000 | 400 Mb/run/7.5 to 8 hours | Pyrosequencing | |
   Illumina (Solexa) Genome Analyzer | Bridge PCR | 36 to 175 | 40,000,000 | >17 Gb/run/3 to 6 days | Reverse terminator | |
   ABI SOLiD | Emulsion PCR | ~50 | 85,000,000 | 10 to 15 Gb/run/6 days | Ligation sequencing | |
   Helicos Heliscope | None | 30 to 35 | 800,000,000 | 21 to 28 Gb/run/8 days | Single molecule sequence by synthesis | |
Technologies in development | ||||||
   Pacific Biosciences | None | >1,000 | NA | NA | Single molecule real-time DNA sequencing | |
   Intelligent Biosciences | Yesa | NA | NA | NA | Sequence by synthesis | |
   Visigen Biotechnologies | None | NA | NA | NA | Base-specific FRET emission | |
   ZS Genetics | None | NA | NA | NA | ZSG atomic labelling and electron microscopy | |