COMPARISON OF NUCLEIC-ACIDS FROM MICROORGANISMS - SEQUENCING APPROACHES

This chapter provides an overview of existing nucleic acid sequencing approaches and indicates areas of rapid technical development. Current practitioners of nucleic acid sequencing are divided into two camps: the old and the new. Newer technology is primarily concerned with automation and increased throughput. The demands and resources available to large sequencing projects, most notably bacterial and eukaryotic genome projects, have fostered automation. Most sequences are determined in the study of the biology of well-circumscribed biochemical or genetic systems (eukaryotic or prokaryotic), the question of what or which molecule(s) to analyze is generally not an issue. However, in addition to the selection of an appropriate biopolymer, the choice of sequencing method may be less straightforward in more strictly comparative studies. Here, the need for rapid sequence determination, issues of fidelity of technique, or modification of DNA sequence associated with posttranscriptional processing events may be primary considerations in deciding sequencing strategy. © 1993