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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Acta Trop. 2011 Nov 28;121(3):267–273. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2011.11.008

Table 2.

Next generation sequencing platforms and their suitability for endemic country field settings. All six platforms are currently either being sold or expected to be sold in India shortly.

Platform Read type Run time Computing requirements Cost Suitability for a field setting
Roche 454 GS FLX Long read 10 hr Desktop $$$ Potential: low computational requirements, but high capital and running costs
Roche 454 GS Junior Long read 10 hr Desktop $$$$ Potential: low computational requirements, but high running costs
Illumina GAII/HiSeq Short read 5 days Cluster $ Problematic: short reads, high computational requirements, high capital cost
Illumina MiSeq Short read 26 hr Desktop $$ Promising: low cost, short run time, small footprint
Life Technologies SOLiD 4/5500 Short read 8 days Cluster $ Problematic: short reads, unusual bioinformatics analysis, computational requirements high
Life Technologies Ion Torrent ‘318’ chip Long read 2 hr Desktop $$ Promising: low cost, short run time, simple mechanics, small footprint, long reads

Short read: sequences <150 bp; Long read: sequences >150bp. $: <$0.5/Mb; $$: ~$1/Mb; $$$: >$7/Mb.