Pacific Biosciences Improves Key Applications on the Sequel System with New Chemistry and Software Release
January 09, 2017 at 07:30 am
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Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. announced a new version of chemistry (V2) and software (V4) for the Sequel™ System. The new release improves the system’s ability to support important applications such as structural variant detection and targeted sequencing— including metagenomics, minor variant detection and isoform sequencing— by achieving mean read lengths of 10-15 kb, with half of the data in reads > 20 kb, and throughput from 5-8 Gb. In addition to these applications, the high consensus accuracy, uniform coverage, and long read lengths inherent to the Sequel System continue to make it ideal for applications such as de novo genome assembly. The Sequel System is PacBio’s latest platform based on its Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT®) Sequencing technology. Since the launch of the system in fall of 2015, PacBio has installed more than 110 Sequel Systems globally. The latest release includes a new version of the consumable SMRT Cells that is tuned for the new sequencing chemistry kits. The company has also made updates to its base calling algorithm that increase accuracy, and added new features in the Sequel System software package designed for clinical research applications. The V2 chemistry and V4 software updates will be available on January 23, 2017. This release improves users’ ability to perform low-fold structural variant detection and key targeted sequencing applications. For structural variant detection, they can now accomplish the same or better quality of results for structural variant analysis using, on average, half the number of SMRT Cells compared to the previously available chemistry. Long read lengths provided by the new chemistry also enable the detection of larger-scale structural variants, in particular there is a 3-fold increase in sensitivity of insertions over 5 kb. For targeted sequencing, the new chemistry and the software gives users more flexibility.
Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. is a life science technology company. It is engaged in designing, developing, and manufacturing advanced sequencing solutions that enable scientists and clinical researchers to resolve genetically complex problems. Its products and technology under development stem from two differentiated core technologies, which include its HiFi long-read sequencing technology and its Sequencing by Binding (SBB) short-read sequencing technology. Its products address solutions across a set of applications, including human genetics, plant and animal sciences, infectious disease and microbiology, oncology, and other emerging applications. It has developed HiFi long-read sequencing based on Single-Molecule Real-Time technology, which accurately detects the nucleotide sequence and epigenetic status of individual DNA molecules. Its Revio, Sequel, Sequel II and Sequel IIe instruments conduct, monitor, and analyze single-molecule biochemical reactions in real time.
PACIFIC BIOSCIENCES OF CALIFORNIA, INC. 
