DNA and Sudoku. What could possibly be the link between the very basis of all known living organisms and a 2,000-year-old Chinese math theorem used in the popular game today? CSHL Professor Gregory Hannon, PhD. and his team have cleverly devised a new approach to genome sequencing, called "DNA Sudoku”. This strategy allows thousands of combined DNA samples to be sequenced all at once, rather than restricting to only sequencing single DNA samples at once in past methods.
“DNA Sudoku” is currently best suited for genotype analyses that require only short segments of an individuals genome to be sequenced to find out if the individual is carrying a certain variant of a gene or a rare mutation. The pooling strategy has similar logic and combinatorial number-placement rules used in the popular game. This strategy replacing the previous individual bar code tagging method “minimizes the number of pools and the amount of sequencing”.
It was developed to overcome the limitations of the previous multiplexing process and increase levels of efficiency, ultimately reducing costs dramatically from $10 million down to approximately $50,000 to $80,000. Further improvement in sequencing technology and integration with this new method will open up future doors for diagnosis in autoimmune diseases, cancer, and for predicting the risk of organ transplantation.
Ariel Kim, 41811281
Link to Original Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090624153112.htm
