Sudoku Logic Used to Speed Gene Sequencing.
source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090624153112.htm
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A math-based game that has taken the world by storm with its ability to delight and puzzle may now be poised to revolutionize the fast-changing world of genome sequencing and the field of medical genetics, suggests a new report by a team of scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL).
Combining a 2,000-year-old Chinese math theorem with concepts from cryptology, the CSHL scientists have devised "DNA Sudoku." The strategy allows tens of thousands of DNA samples to be combined, and their sequences – the order in which the letters of the DNA alphabet (A, T, G, and C) line up in the genome – to be determined all at once.
This achievement is in stark contrast to past approaches that allowed only a single DNA sample to be sequenced at a time. It also significantly improves upon current approaches that, at best, can combine hundreds of samples for sequencing.
"In theory, it is possible to use the Sudoku method to sequence more than a hundred thousand DNA samples," says CSHL Professor Gregory Hannon, Ph.D., a genomics expert and leader of the team that invented the "Sudoku" approach. At that level of efficiency, it promises to reduce costs dramatically. A sequencing project that costs upwards of $10 million using conventional methods may be accomplished for $50,000 to $80,000 using DNA Sudoku, he estimates.
(more at link)
Combining a 2,000-year-old Chinese math theorem with concepts from cryptology, the CSHL scientists have devised "DNA Sudoku." The strategy allows tens of thousands of DNA samples to be combined, and their sequences – the order in which the letters of the DNA alphabet (A, T, G, and C) line up in the genome – to be determined all at once.
This achievement is in stark contrast to past approaches that allowed only a single DNA sample to be sequenced at a time. It also significantly improves upon current approaches that, at best, can combine hundreds of samples for sequencing.
"In theory, it is possible to use the Sudoku method to sequence more than a hundred thousand DNA samples," says CSHL Professor Gregory Hannon, Ph.D., a genomics expert and leader of the team that invented the "Sudoku" approach. At that level of efficiency, it promises to reduce costs dramatically. A sequencing project that costs upwards of $10 million using conventional methods may be accomplished for $50,000 to $80,000 using DNA Sudoku, he estimates.
(more at link)
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