All glossary terms

NGS basics

Coverage

Coverage is the average number of times a given region is read during a sequencing run.

What is coverage in sequencing?

Coverage and read depth are often used interchangeably, but coverage is usually stated as an average across a region or genome, while read depth describes a specific position or sample.

Sequencing

Sequencing is the process of reading the nucleotide order (A, T, C, G) of DNA or RNA fragments.

RNA Integrity Number (RIN)

The RNA Integrity Number (RIN) is a numerical score, from 1 to 10, used to rate the quality of an RNA sample.

Read Depth

Read depth is the total number of individual sequence reads generated for a given sample or region.

Primers

Primers are short single-stranded sequences that bind a DNA template and act as the starting point for DNA synthesis.

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a technique that copies a specific DNA sequence exponentially through repeated temperature cycles.

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)

Next generation sequencing (NGS) is a high-throughput technology that reads millions of DNA or RNA fragments in parallel.