The impact of next-generation sequencing technology on bacterial genomics

Abstract

For many decades, genomic studies were based on Sanger sequencing or the dideoxy chain termination method of sequencing DNA, along with microarray and hybridization-based techniques to understand genome function. Sanger sequencing was used to sequence the genomes of many organisms, from bacteria to humans. However, in recent years 'Next-generation' sequencing technologies have been developed that are cheaper and far more rapid. They produce great sequencing depth, making them applicable to quantitative studies such as gene expression measurements as well. As a result, these technologies have been used extensively to study the sequence, structure, function and evolution of both eukaryotic and bacterial genomes. Here we discuss next-generation sequencing and how it has been used to study a variety of areas from gene expression and protein-DNA interactions to bacterial community function and evolution, at the scale of whole bacterial genomes. We expect that further advances in DNA sequencing technology and methods for managing and analyzing the large volumes of data produced by these approaches will help to answer many more questions in this field.