An Introduction to Genomic Sequencing
This article is a part of my Best Reads of the Month section on my website www.mikegorlon.com. Each month I pick one or two articles or blog posts that I find on the internet which I thought were really insightful, interesting or moving. Then I share them with you. You can view the previous month’s articles by going to: https://www.mikegorlon.com/best-reads-of-the-month
August 2021: An Introduction to Genomic Sequencing
This is a great article by Bharath Ramsundar on DNA and how the huge decrease in the cost of sequencing have helped us learn a lot more about our biological systems.
DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, is the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of all known organisms and viruses. Small sections of DNA, known as genes, send messages to RNA to build proteins and construct the organism.
The genome, which is made up of DNA, is the complete set of genetic information in an organism. In theory, one would ideally be able to learn everything about the organism by having access to the genome but that isn’t the case because there are external factors from the environment, or epigenetic mechanisms as shown in the image below, that have an effect as well.
Genomic sequencing is a process done in a lab that is used to determine the entire genetic makeup of a specific organism or cell type. This method can be used to find changes in areas of the genome. These changes may help scientists understand how specific diseases, such as cancer, form.
As shown in the image below, the cost of sequencing a human genome has decreased a lot in the past 20 years and as Bharath Ramsundar mentions in this article, it has led to many applications such as using sequencing to power liquid biopsies for early cancer diagnosis, characterize human microbiomes and rare diseases, and discover new drugs for specific targets.
