DNA Sequencing: Shotgun Sequencing

Shotgun Sequencing was first developed by Craig Ventor in 1996. He developed it as he was working in the Genome Research Institute. It was him who also made it popular. He then went on to start his Celera Corporation with the sole mission and goal of doing the sequencing of mainly the human genome in as little as three years. But of course, some say that in genetics, the shotgun sequencing was in fact first developed by the double Nobel laureate, Fred Sanger, in the 1970s .
Shotgun Sequencing is a DNA sequencing method that involves the physically breaking down of a long stretch of DNA into very small fragments; about 2,000 base-pair. These fragments are then cloned, sequenced and also assembled with the use of computer analysis.
Also known in other circles and by other people as shotgun cloning, this method is said to be one of the harbinger technologies which is mainly responsible for bringing about what we now have as full genome sequencing. The sequencing of the human genome was done by Craig Ventor’s Celera Corporation as well as by the Human Genome Project. They used a map-based sequencing while Craig’s Ventor’s Celera used shotgun sequencing.
Today, however, Craig Ventor’s Shotgun Sequencing is the preferred system and method for doing other types of genome sequencing. And as science and technology improves, it’s clearly obvious that more things will be discovered that will alter or improve the method, for the better. For example, there is now the method called the next-generation sequencing, which is said to result in high coverage than Craig’s. As they say, only time will tell what the future has for this and other methods yet unravelled because man is discovering newer things each and every day. And as many continue to share what they know with others, better methods will obviously be discovered.