Universal Sequencing Technology Corporation (UST) Releases "TELL-Seq Haplotype Phasing" App

CARLSBAD, Calif. - Aug. 2, 2022 - PRLog -- Universal Sequencing Technology Corporation (UST), announces today, August 2^nd, 2022, that it has released "TELL-Seq Haplotype Phasing" App on Illumina Basespace™ Sequence Hub to further streamline and enable access to the TELL-Seq haplotype phasing workflow solution. This can effectively be used in broad research areas including genetic disease research, HLA haplotyping, complex variant linkage, and trait analysis.

UST's TELL-Seq technology, a transposase-based patent-pending linked-read library technology, enables short read 2^nd generation DNA sequencing platforms, such as Illumina sequencers, to produce super long-range sequencing results (averaging linked-read molecule length greater than 40kb up to and exceeding 200kb).  Sequencing ready libraries can be prepared quickly in ~3 hours, with a simple workflow, and cost effectively with only basic lab equipment.

Dr. Aaron U. Levy, GM & Chief Commercial Officer of UST, stated that "TELL-Seq library technology is compatible with the range of Illumina sequencing platforms from benchtop like MiniSeq™ up to high-throughput NovaSeq™ 6000. The collaboration between UST and Illumina, based on the co-development and co-marketing agreement signed early 2021, is speeding up the adoption of UST's super long range TELL-Seq NGS library products among Illumina users, in the US and all over the world."

Dr. Dalia Daujotyte, Director of NGS Partnerships and Applications at Illumina, stated that "TELL-Seq linked read technology provides valuable solutions that enrich the Illumina  ecosystem and we have been pleased to partner with UST."

To demonstrate the capabilities of the TELL-Seq phasing workflow and new BSSH app, UST and Illumina have co-developed and released the application note "Ultra-long range phasing with linked-read sequencing technology." By combining highly accurate Illumina sequencing and UST TELL-Seq library technology the app note demonstrates excellent haplotype phasing performance and enables users to generate phasing block greater than >10Mb and libraries with N50 phasing blocks >1Mb with human whole genome when utilizing high molecular weight input DNA.

It has been demonstrated that TELL-Seq can phase the entire 4Mb major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region into two complete parental haplotypes (Chen et al, Genome Res. 2020 Jun;30(6):898-909. doi: 10.1101/gr.260380,119). MHC region contains many highly polymorphic HLA genes which play a critical role in organ transplantation and are associated with many diseases.

According to Dr. Zhoutao (Tom) Chen, Chief Scientific Officer of UST, "With super long-range TELL-Seq library kit and an Illumina sequencer, one can now perform de novo sequencing (microbial genomes, metagenomics, animals/plants/insects, etc.), whole genome phasing, and structural variation detection, as well as generate phased whole exome and target sequencing.  Unique to this technology, it requires very low input DNA, 3-5ng for large genomes (>2Gb) and 0.1-0.5ng for small genomes (<10Mb) and targeted gene panels."

A recent Nature Medicine article (Kumar et al. Nat Med 28, 513–516, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01735-0 ) demonstrated superior TELL-Seq phasing results to detect phased rare variants with high accuracy for whole-genome risk prediction of common diseases in human preimplantation embryos.  In addition to genome-scale phasing application, TELL-Seq has been used successfully in targeted phasing applications, such as, phased whole exome sequencing, phasing enriched full length gene targets, e.g., 200kb BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, and phasing 2kb to 15kb long-range PCR amplicons.

Dr. Ming Lei, Co-Founder and CEO of UST also added that " we are continuing to advance our technology and expand our product pipeline into multiple NGS application areas that require super long read. We will continue to partner with Illumina to support further expansion of Illumina sequencing platforms' applications, based on our co-development, co-marketing, and commercial agreement."

ABOUT UNIVERSAL SEQUENCING TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION

Universal Sequencing Technology Corporation (UST), a Boston and San Diego based NGS biotechnology company, was established by a group of NGS veterans. UST is dedicated to the development of the most advanced DNA sequencing technologies and has filed more than 20 provisional patent applications covering linked read NGS library preparation, single cell sequencing and groundbreaking 3rd generation DNA sequencing technologies. UST is poised to lead the next wave of DNA sequencing innovations.