Kits & Reagents for CE Sequencing & Fragment Analysis

Find which sequencing and reaction clean-up kits are right for you.

Life Technologies continues to develop superior Sanger sequencing kits that provide a solution for all your applications and templates. The table below provides guidelines to help you choose between the three main sequencing kits.

Sequencing Specificity BigDye®
Direct
BigDye®
Terminator V3.1
BigDye®
Terminator V1.1
All types of sequencing xx xx xx
High resolution close to the sequencing primer xx xx (if using POP-6™)
M13 tailed PCR primers and M13 sequencing primer* xx ‡ x x
Universal tail primer other than M13 primer x x
Long read (>650 bp) x xx x
Mixed base (heterozygote) with ratio 10/50 to 50/50 xx x xx
GC-rich, GT-rich, difficult template † x x x

x   Satisfactory
xx  Optimal
–   Not Recommended

†  BigDye® Direct, BigDye® Terminator V3.1, and BigDye® Terminator V1.1 will provide good sequence quality for the majority of these templates. In some cases, the dGTP BigDye® terminators have been specially designed for these difficult templates and will provide better results

‡  BigDye® Direct requires the use of M13 tailed primer for the PCR reaction. This kit contains BigDye® Direct PCR Master Mix, BigDye® Direct Sequencing Master Mix to perform the PCR cleanup and sequencing reaction in a one-step reaction, BigDye® Direct M13 Fwd Primer (5′ TGTAAAACGACGGCCAGT 3′), BigDye® Direct M13 Rev Primer (5′ CAGGAAACAGCTATGACC 3′), and Control DNA CEPH 1347-02.

* Why use M13 tailed PCR primer or other universal tail primer?
Use of M13 or universal primers in a sequencing workflow streamlines the workflow, and reduces the possibility of human error.
For more information, please go to the second tab on this web page: Sequencing Primers

Sequencing Applications and Specific Requirements

de novo Sequencing
de novo sequencing is used for the generation of the DNA sequence of a DNA molecule without any prior information about the sequence. For de novo sequencing using capillary electrophoresis, the target DNA is fragmented and cloned into a viral or plasmid vector. Cloning provides amplification of the target DNA (by bacterial growth) and allows sequencing primers to bind to known sequence in the vector and extend the sequence into the unknown target DNA. de novo sequencing methods are described in the Sequencing Chemistry Guide page 16-20.

Sequencing kit criteria for de novo sequencing: long read.

Sequencing of PCR Product (resequencing).
Resequencing is defined as sequencing of DNA molecules followed by comparison to a known or reference sequence. Resequencing or directed sequencing is used for the discovery of sequence variants usually associated with a phenotypic change, for determining evolutionary changes, and/or for biological identification. Resequencing may be focused on coding regions of genes implicated in disease, or it may target the whole genome for the discovery of SNPs and other sequence variations between individuals. Comparative sequencing is usually defined as sequencing a specific region in different species or subspecies to identify highly conserved regions. Resequencing is often carried out by amplifying a specific region of the genome by PCR and then sequencing the PCR fragment from both directions to generate a high-quality DNA sequence. Information about the different strategies for resequencing are described in the Sequencing Chemistry Guide page 20 to 23.

Sequencing kit criteria for PCR product sequencing: read first base after the primer, mixed base detection. Using a M13 primer can be a very good solution to streamline the workflow.
For more information on M13 primer, please go to the second tab on this webpage: Sequencing Primers

NGS Sequence Confirmation
Sanger sequencing is the gold standard for the confirmation of next generation sequencing results. This is typically accomplished by the Sanger sequencing of PCR products that correspond to regions of interest identified using next generation sequencing.

Methlylation Sequencing
Methylation of a CpG residue can be determined by treating genomic DNA with sodium bisulfite that converts non-methylated cytosine to uracil, while methylated cytosine is protected from bisulfite conversion. Comparing the sequence of bisulfite-converted DNA with untreated DNA clearly indicates the presence of methylated C residues, because they appear as C in bisulfite-converted DNA. Nonmethylated C is converted to U (and to T in the sequencing reaction), so it appears as T. In principle, there are two approaches to methylation, depending upon the available information and the research goals: methylation-specific PCR or bisulfite-specific PCR. A researcher performs bisulfite treatment in order to transform an epigenetic event to a detectable, permanent genetic change in vitro, because the original methylation is lost during PCR.
Comparison of sodium-bisulfite treated DNA sequences with sequences obtained from untreated genomic DNA allows the precise identification of all methylated cytosines within a long stretch of DNA. Two options are available for collecting methylation sequencing data. Both options require bisulfite conversion and PCR amplification, but in one method, the PCR fragments are sequenced directly, while in the other method the fragments are cloned and then the clones are sequenced. Methylation sequencing methods is described in the Sequencing Chemistry Guide page 23 to 26.

Sequencing kit criteria for methylation sequencing: mixed-base detection.

Why use M13 tailed PCR primer or other universal tailed primer?

Enlarge Image
Figure 1. Sequencing with PCR primer and standard primer tail.

For most large projects, it has become customary to include a standard (universal) primer tail on the PCR primers to simplify sequencing setup (Figure 1). The most common tail is the M13 sequence because it was initially used for sequencing clones constructed in the single-stranded bacteriophage M13. Potential disadvantages of using tailed PCR primers are the greater challenge in designing primers with a tail and the need for higher-quality oligonucleotides due to the increase in primer length (PCR primers).Life Technologies provides great primer design tools and an attractive price for primers up to 45 bases long.

Enlarge Image
Figure 2. Sequencing with PCR primer and standard primer tail.

The main advantage of using an M13 tailed primer or universal tailed primer is the simplicity of the sequencing reaction setup (Figure 2).

Primer Design Tools

Application Primer Design Software
PCR and Sequencing

Oligo Perfect™ Designer

Methylation Analysis

Methyl Primer Express™ Software v1.0

PCR and Sequencing Primers
Order PCR and sequencing primers

Which Sequencing Reaction Cleanup Product Is Right for You?

Cleanup Method Description & Application Product
Reagent-Based Sequencing Template Cleanup Scavenges all unincorporated BigDye® terminators. Stabilizes samples before analysis. Best for long and short fragment recovery.

BigDye® XTerminator™ Purification Kit

Gel Filtration Spin Columns Recovers DNA fragments larger than 16 base pairs. Removes > 98% of salts, NTP's and other unwanted low-molecular-weight impurities.

Centri-Sep™ 96-Well Plates

Centri-Sep™ 8-Well Strips

Centri-Sep™ Columns

Fragment analysis techniques allow the development of multiple applications on the Genetic Analyzer. For an overview of the different applications visit the Fragment Analysis page.

Life Technologies offers several kits for specific fragment analysis–based applications.

Fragment Analysis Kits

Kits and Reagents Applications Associated Reagents
SNaPshot® Multiplex System Genotyping, BAC fingerprint, Methylation analysis SNaPshot® primer focus kits, GeneScan™ 120 LIZ® Size Standard
TrueScience™ RespiFinder® Pathogen and Viral Identification Panels

Detect and differentiate up to 14 RNA viruses, 1 DNA virus, and 4 bacterial strains in a single tube responsible for acute respiratory tract infections

GeneScan™ 600 LIZ® Size Standard v2.0
Applied Biosystems® KRAS and BRAF mutation analysis reagents
Detects 12 mutations in the KRAS gene and 3 mutations in the BRAF gene. Able to detect 1-5% mutation contribution in a background of wild type genomic DNA from analytical samples.  
AFLP® Analysis System Genome fingerprinting for microorganism or
Genome fingerprinting for Plant
 
Custom labeled primer Microsatellite, LOH, chimerism, ISSR analysis, SSCP, RFLP, TRFLP, MSMSA  

Size Standard

When DNA fragments are labeled with: Choose a size standards labeled with: Recommended Size Standard Possible Applications Other Kits and Products
dR110, dR6G, dTAMRA™, dROX (Dye Set DS-02 - Filter E5) LIZ®
GeneScan™ 120 LIZ® Size Standard
GeneScan™ 600 LIZ Size Standard v2.0
SNaPshot®
Microsatellite, LOH, ISSR, Chimerism, ISSR, RFLP, T-RFLP, MSMSA
SNaPshot® primer focus kits
Custom Labeled Primer
5-FAM™, HEX™, NED™ (Dye Set DS-30 - Filter D) ROX™ GeneScan™ 500 ROX™ Size Standard Custom Fragment Analysis Custom Labeled Primer
6-FAM™, VIC®, NED™ (Dye Set DS-31 - Filter D**) ROX™ GeneScan™ 500 ROX™ Size Standard

Custom Fragment Analysis

Custom Labeled Primer
5-FAM™, JOE, NED™ (Dye Set DS-32 - Filter F) ROX™ GeneScan™ 500 ROX™ Size Standard
Microsatellite (Forensic)
AFLP
AmpFℓSTR® Kits,
Plant/Microbial AFLP Kits®
6-FAM™, VIC®, NED™, PET® (Dye Set DS-33 - Filter G5) LIZ® GeneScan™ 600 LIZ Size Standard v2.0
Microsatellite (Forensic)
Pathogen Detection
Custom Fragment Analysis
AmpFℓSTR® Kits,
TrueScience™ RespiFinder®
Custom Labeled Primer