Abstract
High-throughput sequencing is sweeping through clinical microbiology, transforming our discipline in its wake. It is already providing an enhanced view of pathogen biology through rapid and inexpensive whole-genome sequencing and more sophisticated applications such as RNA-seq. It also promises to deliver high-resolution genomic epidemiology as the ultimate typing method for bacteria. However, the most revolutionary effect of this 'disruptive technology' is likely to be creation of a novel sequence-based, culture-independent diagnostic microbiology that incorporates microbial community profiling, metagenomics and single-cell genomics. We should prepare for the coming 'technological singularity' in sequencing, when this technology becomes so fast and so cheap that it threatens to out-compete existing diagnostic and typing methods in microbiology.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 625-631 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Current Opinion in Microbiology |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2010 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank the British Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council for supporting NLJ via grant BBE0111791 and the Hospital Infection Society for supporting the study by Lewis et al.
