Sequencing: Faster, farther, cheaper

Although a review in Science has questioned the efficiency of Perkin-Elmer Corp.'s latest generation of automated sequencing machines, the company's Celera Genomics Corp. division believes they will prove to be the most powerful tools for sequencing the human genome. In any case, far more efficient technology is on the horizon, which will enable the many comparative whole-genome sequencing projects that still will be needed after the complete human genome sequence has been accomplished.

Celera (Rockville, Md.) plans to use 300 ABI 3700 DNA Analyzers, the next generation of automatic sequencer developed by PKN (Norwalk, Conn.), to complete the sequence of the human genome by 2001. The 3700 uses a capillary gel separation system coupled with a new laser detection apparatus. Last week, Science published a review of the ABI 3700 by authors at the Sanger Centre, which previously sequenced half of the C. elegans genome and is expected to sequence one third of the human genome. Sanger (Cambridge, U.K.) currently uses PKN's earlier slab gel sequencer, the ABI 377XL...