What Do "Reads" Represent in Transcriptome Sequencing?
In transcriptome sequencing, “reads” are fundamental data units that refer to short sequence fragments derived from DNA or RNA samples using sequencing platforms.
When sequencing a sample (such as a transcriptome, which comprises all RNA molecules in a cell or tissue), modern sequencing technologies do not process an entire long DNA or RNA molecule in a single read. Instead, they utilize a series of complex procedures to break the original biomolecules into smaller fragments and then determine the nucleotide sequences of these fragments. Each of these short sequence fragments is known as a “read.”
The length of reads varies depending on the sequencing technology used, typically ranging from tens to thousands of nucleotides. For example, the Illumina sequencing platform usually generates reads of 150–300 base pairs, whereas long-read sequencing technologies such as PacBio and Oxford Nanopore can produce reads ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of base pairs.
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