Next Generation Sequencing Technique and Its Application in Plant Virology

DNA sequencing is used by virtually all branches of biological research. Among the first advanced sequencing technologies, scientists were able to elucidate genetic information from any particular biological system using the Sanger sequencing method. Although Sanger sequencing generates high quality sequencing data, its limitations such as scalability, speed and resolution often preclude scientists from obtaining the essential information. To overcome these barriers, next generation sequencing technique (NGS) was introduced at the beginning of the 21st century. This technique provided a highly efficient, rapid, and low cost DNA sequencing platform beyond the reach of the standard and traditional DNA sequencing technologies that developed in late 1970s. In 2009, NGS technologies began to be applied to several areas of plant virology including virus/viroid genome sequencing, discovery and detection, ecology, epidemiology and replication. It is expected that NGS plays very significant roles in many plant virology researches.