DNA Sequencing

The term DNA sequencing refers to methods for determining the order of the nucleotide bases, adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine, in a molecule of DNA. The first DNA sequences were obtained by academic researchers, using laborious methods based on 2-dimensional chromatography in the early 1970s. Following the development of dye-based sequencing methods with automated analysis, DNA sequencing has become easier and orders of magnitude faster. Knowledge of DNA sequences of genes and other parts of the genome of organisms has become indispensable for basic research studying biological processes, as well as in applied fields such as diagnostic or forensic research. The advent of DNA sequencing has significantly accelerated biological research and discovery. The rapid speed of sequencing attained with modern DNA sequencing technology has been instrumental in the sequencing of the human genome, in the Human Genome Project. Related projects, often by scientific collaboration across continents, have generated the complete DNA sequences of many animal, plant, and microbial genomes