Target-Enrichment System for Next-Generation Sequencing

Agilent Technologies, Inc and Applied Biosystems, have introduced the Agilent SureSelect Target Enrichment System, which is optimised for the SOLiD™ System, a next-generation advanced genomic analysis

sequencing platform. As part of the agreement, the companies are comarketing the SureSelect system, which is a unique research tool for efficiently re-sequencing specific regions of interest in the genome. The tool saves researchers tremendous amounts of time and expense, often enabling them to conduct studies that would otherwise not be feasible.

In advance of the commercialisation, the SureSelect Target Enrichment System was made available to a number of research scientists using the SOLiD System on an early-access basis, including Dr John McPherson,

Cancer Genomics director at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR). Research scientists at OICR are using seven SOLiD Systems to identify genes critical to the development of cancer.

Agilent’s target-enrichment product line offers customer-specified mixtures of up to 55,000 biotinylated RNA probes, delivered in single tubes. The capture probes are 120 base pairs long, the longest currently

on the market for this application. This makes them very effective at capturing DNA containing unknown mutations, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms, insertions or deletions. SureSelect products are packaged for a range of study sizes, from tens to thousands of samples, and are well suited for automation in very-high-throughput workflows, unlike other commercially available products for this application.

Users can design their own custom SureSelect mixtures using the Agilent eArray online design tool, which contains many key genomes and also lets users upload their own sequences. This intuitive, Webbased design tool is the heart of Agilent’s custom genomics product manufacturing capability and is now expanded to the new SureSelect platforms. eArray allows researchers to easily design the tools they need without up-front design fees.