Fluidigm has announced the release of its amplicon tagging protocol for the Illumina GA II next-generation sequencer.
The 48.48 Access Array integrated fluidic circuit (IFC) is said to allow Illumina GA II users to automatically prepare sequencing-ready libraries from 48 individual samples at a time, for as little as USD7 (GBP4.47) per sample.
Fluidigm's Access Array IFC, when used with an Illumina GA II sequencer, can capture up to 12kb of sequence data per sample, or 576kb per array.
With upcoming applications on the Access Array system, such as long range PCR, users will be able to target up to 480kb of sequence data per sample, or 23MB per array.
Sequencing library preparation for next-generation sequencers is said to be the most time- and labour-intensive component of the entire next-generation sequencing process.
While typically necessary for whole-genome sequencing studies, library preparation can be almost entirely eliminated for targeted re-sequencing projects through the use of amplicon tagging.
By incorporating adaptor sequences into the primer design, Access Array's PCR-based output is ready to go into a GA II flow cell because the necessary capture sequences have already been incorporated.
Fluidigm's Access Array is capable of harvesting a processed sample out of the chip.
Once the sample processing has been completed, the Access Array chip automatically returns the processed sample to ports where it can be easily extracted and readied for sequencing.
