10 June 2022
Optimizing sequencing costs in metagenomics: How to reduce costs of pathogen detection in with PaRTI-Seq™
Pathogen detection techniques based on culture PCR, or serology are still regarded as the gold standards for pathogen detection, even though these techniques present significant limitations due to their turnover time, low positivity rates and low sensitivity. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques are capable of addressing many of these shortcomings with the high-throughput approach of nucleic acid sequencing, in which millions to billions of short fragments of DNA (reads) or RNA (transcripts) are massively sequenced in parallel (Behjati and Tarpey, 2013). With the help of bioinformatics, these fragments can then be assembled and mapped against a reference database for fast and accurate pathogen identification. NGS-based approaches have the potential to significantly improve throughput capabilities of clinical laboratories, while also enhancing detection sensitivity and resolution.