Editor’s Assessment

With the recent official launch of BGI’s new CycloneSEQ sequencing platform that delivers long-reads using novel nanpores, this paper presents benchmarking data and validation studies comparing short, long-rea data from other platforms and hybrid assemblies. This study tests the performance of the new platform in sequencing diverse microbial genomes, presenting raw and processed data to enable others to scrutinise and verify the work. Being openly peer-reviewed, and having scripts and protocols also shared for the first time helps provide transparency in this benchmarking process to increase trust in this new technology. On top of benchmarking typed strains, the technology also was tested with complex microbial communities. Yielding complete metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) which were not achieved by short- or long-read assemblies alone. By directly reading DNA molecules without fragmentation, the study demonstrating CycloneSEQ delivers long-read data with impressive length and accuracy, unlocking gaps that short-read technologies alone cannot bridge. Future work is expanding to real samples, with and fine-tuning the balance between short-read and long-read data for even faster, higher-quality assemblies.

Editor’s Assessment

With the recent official launch of BGI’s new CycloneSEQ sequencing platform that delivers long-reads using novel nanpores, this paper presents benchmarking data and validation studies comparing short, long-rea data from other platforms and hybrid assemblies. This study tests the performance of the new platform in sequencing diverse microbial genomes, presenting raw and processed data to enable others to scrutinise and verify the work. Being openly peer-reviewed, and having scripts and protocols also shared for the first time helps provide transparency in this benchmarking process to increase trust in this new technology. On top of benchmarking typed strains, the technology also was tested with complex microbial communities. Yielding complete metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) which were not achieved by short- or long-read assemblies alone. By directly reading DNA molecules without fragmentation, the study demonstrating CycloneSEQ delivers long-read data with impressive length and accuracy, unlocking gaps that short-read technologies alone cannot bridge. Future work is expanding to real samples, with and fine-tuning the balance between short-read and long-read data for even faster, higher-quality assemblies.