Talk:DNA sequencing

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Hello cello 10:07, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Contents 1 Whoa, where's the "layman's terms"? 2 "Less tech" scratch-pad 3 Other "Next Generation" technologies? 4 In near future, people's official personal name will be a babbled hash of their full DNA sequencing. 5 ZS genetics and Glover 6 WikiEthics, WikiPurpose, Etc.

[edit] Whoa, where's the "layman's terms"?

Aww, I was hoping to learn how DNA was sequenced, but I reckon if you are an individual that understands "... initiated at a specific site on the template DNA by using a short oligonucleotide 'primer' complementary to the template at that region.", then you probably already know how DNA is sequenced. Common, there's got to be someone out there that is talented enough with words and biology to make this topic accessible to anyone who tries. :) -Tom

I'll come back later and give it a try. I'll leave a note here so I'll remember to come back.Nbauman 19:15, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

This is quandry. Since Wikipedia is an encyclopedia it should be written for senior in high school level. But a senior should know what the four common DNA nucleotides are, that DNA has polarity, what a primer is, and that a primer annealing to a complementary strand could be used to initiate polymerization. But as I write this I can understand. To a molecular biologist DNA sequencing is as straight forward as it gets. To try to explain DNA sequencing and having to explain it all the way down to the basics of DNA polarity is a mind boggling task.

I will try to find a link to the Lewis Thomas of DNA sequencing. MBCF 01:45, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Less tech" scratch-pad

Hmm, let's see:

"DNA sequencing is any method that reveals any part of the central building block pattern that makes up a cell."

Evolve the article forward from there. Also, we are going to need a recognizable and clear history section. More illustrations too. Need to work in somethings about why we sequence DNA: being unique like fingerprints, find out how biology works, ... --Charles Gaudette 09:24, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Other "Next Generation" technologies?

I have added a lot of material here - if you have some comments, please let me knowCinnamon colbert 04:03, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

• • I agree this article needs to be edited to make it more accessible and we should also add some links to the other "Next generation" technologies, e.g. Solexa and 454's biggest near-term competitor - Applied Biosystems' "SOLiD" platform - horrible name, nice technology! Also some discussion of the longer term technologies being investigated, such as nanopore sequencing? P.S. I don't work for Applied Biosystems!
    • I tried reading the solid pdf, and found it awfully complex, a la the Brenner /Lynx paper - is this really goign to fly in the real world ??

• • request As I reviewed your next generation sequencing entries, I noticed you missed a technology that is currently commercialized = Solexa's next generation Sequencing By Synthesis platform. I'd like to request a link to our web page at solexa.com. Please let me know what I can provide to accomplish this. Glenn Powell Director, Marketing Solexa Inc. gpowell@solexa.com
    • after looking at the illumina web site today (28 march 2007) I'm not sure I'd call the solexa technolog "commercialized" in the sense that there are SKUs and pricing and so forth..looks a little custom at the momentCinnamon colbert 04:03, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] In near future, people's official personal name will be a babbled hash of their full DNA sequencing.

If and when it becomes possible to sequence the entire human DNA in short time (minutes) using small equipment (desktop or portable) then a hash algorythm could be developed, which can give a short unique identifier for any human on Earth, based on their full DNA seq - just like 512-byte little SHA-1 hashes are used to positively identify gigabyte sized files of digital data.

The hash number sequence could be converted to S-code (a vocabulary of artifical words) to make up an easy to remember sentence. This is already done in SSH Babble format for user friendly host key fingerprints. Similarly the DNA's spellable S-code hash would become your official name. I recommend using chinese names and/or native american names for the DNA's Babble dictionary. Even if you were John Doe Jr., your official genetic name will be something like "Pei Xio Li Bai Chung Zheng Kuo" or "Little Blue Cloud Sitting Wolf Three Arrows".

The results would be great. Personal identity cards would become unnecessary, as your DNA hash becomes your worldwide unique personal name and identity and it can be verified infallibly in situ from the blood or mouth swab using rapid desktop sequencers. Thus, it becomes impossible to live under false names. Murder victims can always be identified immediately. Murder suspects can be named immediately on national TV, even if they only left a drop of blood or spit behind.

Didn't you ever see Gattaca??? --Baldzac 20:53, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Of course the hash forming algorithm needs to be designed carefully so that it is not possible to deduce private info e.g. about gender, racial identity or hereditary diseases just by knowing someone's hash. Such info shall be gained only from full sequencing.

I do not think this bright or menacing (see 666) future is very far. About 97% of human DNA is invariably same among all people so only the rest 3% needs to be sequnced and reduced to a unique hash. Sequencing technology is developing rapidly. 195.70.48.242 20:33, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] ZS genetics and Glover

someone keeps adding a great deal of information about what is , at this point, vaporware. I think what I have now is about right; so far as I can tell, the patent apps haven't even been published, let alone issued. Anyone can give a public lecture at MIT; this don't mean much. The implication of using Br and I tagged bases is that you need alot of modifed nucleotdies which may be unstable (eg, it is well known tht Br tagged bases are unstalbe in room light)

[edit] WikiEthics, WikiPurpose, Etc.

So I am a bioinformatics tech about to enter a PhD program and I am wondering what my ethical responsibilities may or may not be in editing this article. I work with Solexa Sequencing techniques right now, which have some pretty novel and exciting possibilities that are well worth mentioning, but I am sort of tooting my own horn which may be received poorly. Also, along the lines of the "layman's terms" point, to what extent can/should the easily comprehensible descriptions be supplemented by more arcane material that might be useful to other researchers like myself. I know that when I, personally, search for 454 or Solexa on the web I go straight to the company's websites, which are not always clear or thorough. Can we offer a description that ascends through the high school level to the collegiate? and beyond? --WillJeck 01:48, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

WillJeck, your first instinct was right. Promoting your own product would specifically violate Wikipedia rules against self-promotion and advertising. If we allowed Wikipedia to include self-promotion, people on the payroll of companies would overwhelm volunteers.

The problem is that you can (and probably will) give undue emphasis to commercial companies -- if not to your own companies, to the commercial companies in general, as distinct from academic bjectively (although if someone from the company itself wrote the article, it would seem to violate Wikipedia rules on advertising and self-promotion). A link to the company web site would be legitimate too, if the site actually has useful information. But it would be a problem (and violate NPOV) if you choose commercial sites over non-commercial sites.

Why, for example, don't you link to the Nobel website, [1] which has lots of educational material on DNA sequencing written on the level of an intelligent high school student? There's a huge amount of free information on DNA sequencing, written by teachers and academics. [2]

I realize that the commercial companies have made important contributions and deserve a place in the article. But we have to strike a balance, and it's very easy for the commercial interests to take over. And of all the commercial inroads in Wikipedia, this article is much less of a problem than others. Nbauman 17:47, 24 March 2007 (UTC)