Breakthrough in Sequencing: DNA Sudoku
Chinese theorem allowed to invent DNA Sudoku<url>
Scientists from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have developed a method that allows you to simultaneously determine the sequence of a large number of DNA samples.
The new technology is described in the press release of the laboratory. The authors' article (DNA Sudoku—harnessing high-throughput sequencing for multiplexed specimen analysis) was featured on the cover of Genome Research magazine.
The tasks of modern molecular biology and medicine require rapid determination of the DNA sequence in a huge number of samples (you can read more about this process here). In recent years, devices developed for this purpose (they are called sequencers) have "learned" to simultaneously determine the sequence of DNA taken, for example, from several patients. To distinguish individual samples, before determining their sequence using a sequencer, scientists attach short nucleotide "tails" to them. It is different for each individual sample. Analyzing the sequencing results, scientists learn the sequences of each patient by these "tails".
The described technology allows you to work simultaneously with a dozen samples. Given the pace of development of science and the complexity of the research, this is very little. According to scientists from Cold Spring Harbor, the method they developed will allow working with hundreds of thousands of DNA sequences at the same time. The method is based on the Chinese remainder theorem and is called DNA Sudoku.
Instead of attaching "tails" to individual sequences, the authors suggest first dividing all available samples into several groups according to a certain scheme. All sequences belonging, for example, to group A are marked with the "tail" of a, group B with the "tail" of b, and so on. Samples from all groups are placed in the sequencer. Having obtained the sequencing result, scientists, using the remainder theorem and "tails", can uniquely identify individual samples in each group. Researchers sort of "fill" the cells of the Sudoku puzzle (groups) with numbers (individual samples).
So far, the method works best for not very long DNA sequences. It can be used, for example, to determine whether a patient has a certain mutation. In the future, scientists plan to use their technology to simultaneously determine the sequence of long sections of the genome.
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06.06.2009