DNA
Next -generation DNA sequencing involves rapid, high throughput collection of short sections of DNA. The desire for more genomic information is driving costs down with one goal of being able to obtain a full human genome sequence for $1000 or less. Because these next-generation sequencing approaches generate short sequence reads of typically 25 to 250 bases in a massively parallel fashion, it has been possible to successfully obtain sequence information from ancient DNA samples, which are normally too fragmented to sequence by traditional techniques. As of late 2008, a complete Neandertal mitochondrial genome sequence had been obtained, and researchers are attempting to sequence the entire 3 billion base pair genome of a 40,000-year-old Neandertal bone sample. Itis unclear whether or not next-generation sequencing techniques will help traditional forensic testing as they are helping ancient DNA sample sequencing. Current methods have a diffi cult time with repetitive sequences and thus unless future improvements are made, STR regions would probably not be able to be reliably analyzed with next-generation DNA sequencing.
DNA