Thursday, November 26, 2009

The Basics of Dna Sequencing Technology

DNA sequencing is the process of determining the order of nucleotides in DNA. DNA sequencing is often talked about in the context of the Human Genome Project, in which, the human genome was successfully sequenced in 2001, providing scientists an incredible amount of data. The technology of DNA sequencing has evolved rapidly. To obtain your personal genome sequencing. This allows you to access your disease risk and to analyze and compare your genetic traits.

DNA molecules consist of repeating nucleotides, which are the the bases of DNA. Nucleotides consist of adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C). DNA molecules are double-stranded, with two complimentary DNA strands forming a double helix. DNA sequencing aims to determine the exact order of the bases, A, T, C and G in a DNA fragment.

The basic principle of DNA sequencing is simple and consists of two main steps. In the first step, labeled nucleotides are inserted into copies of a DNA fragment. In the second step, the DNA sequence is derived from the locations of the labeled nucleotides. The first step involves a technique called DNA amplification. First, the original double-stranded DNA is heated and separated into two single DNA strands.

Researchers had identified three genes that are connected to HNPCC: MLH1, MSH2 and MSH6. Under normal conditions, these genes actually help the body to resist cancers. On the other hand, mutations of these genes will make the body more susceptible to cancer, more specfically, colorectal and endometrial cancers.There has been a rapid expansion in the number of different and yet effective approaches for high-speed DNA sequencing.