Question

How does "shotgun" DNA sequencing work?

Answer 1

Ok I am assuming you are somewhat familiar with how sequencing works...

Shotgun sequencing works by breaking up a larger sequence and sequencing many short fragments at a time and then reconstructing the entire sequence. This is accomplished using algorithms developed by people much smarter than I am. The "shotgun" term refers to the randomness of the process, similar to the way a shotgun shell spreads out after firing. I will give an example to show you what i mean:

Suppose you have a long sequence (imagine it is much longer) that looks something like this:

5'- ATC GCC ATA CCC CGG AAT ATA GCG CAT TAT ATT ACA CAG ACA -3'


By using shotgun sequencing, you can end up with a bunch of fragments that can easily be sequenced. so maybe you get this

3'- TAG CGG TAT GGG GCC TTA TAT CGC GTA -5'
3'- TTA TAT CGC GTA ATA TAA TGT GTC TGT -5'

I have flipped these stands around so you can easily see they are complementary to regions of the full strand. They share an overlapping region that suggests where they are in relation to each other on the main sequence. This is a simplified version of what shotgun sequencing does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_sequencing

Wiki always have more information if i didn't tell you want you wanted to know

Answer 2

u are good yea ########