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Genetics & Biotechnology vocabulary · Sequencing and Genomics

Read

Meaning in genetics & biotechnology, with examples

/riːd/nounCommon term

In genetics & biotechnology, read means: In sequencing, a single DNA sequence that the machine produces from one fragment. A sequencing run produces millions of reads.

In Turkish: okuma, dizi okuması

How it is used

Used constantly in sequencing and bioinformatics. Reads can be short or long, single-end or paired-end; they are aligned (mapped) to a reference genome, filtered and counted. People talk about read length, read quality and the number of reads per sample.

Example sentences

  1. We got about 40 million paired-end reads per sample.

  2. Only 70% of the reads mapped to the reference, which suggests contamination.

Common collocations

  • short reads
  • paired-end reads
  • read length
  • map reads
  • read quality
  • next-generation sequencingModern technologies that read millions or billions of DNA fragments in parallel, making it fast and cheap to sequence whole genomes, exomes or many genes at once.
  • alignmentArranging DNA, RNA or protein sequences side by side to find where they match, or placing sequencing reads in the right position on a reference genome.
  • coverageThe average number of sequencing reads that cover each base of the target region. Higher coverage gives more confident results.
  • FASTQThe standard text file format for raw sequencing data. Each read takes four lines: a name, the base sequence, a separator line and a quality score for every base.
  • reference genomeA standard, high-quality genome sequence for a species that researchers use as a common map when aligning reads and describing variants.

More terms: Sequencing and Genomics

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