View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE REVIEW ARTICLEprovided by Frontiers - Publisher Connector published: 24 June 2014 doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2014.00305 DNA polymerases drive DNA sequencing-by-synthesis technologies: both past and present Cheng-Yao Chen* Protein Engineering Group, Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA Edited by: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have revolutionized modern biological and Andrew F.Gardner, New England biomedical research. The engines responsible for this innovation are DNA polymerases; Biolabs, USA they catalyze the biochemical reaction for deriving template sequence information. In fact, Reviewed by: DNA polymerase has been a cornerstone of DNA sequencing from the very beginning. Suleyman Yildirim, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, USA Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I proteolytic (Klenow) fragment was originally utilized Andreas Marx, University of in Sanger’s dideoxy chain-terminating DNA sequencing chemistry. From these humble Konstanz, Germany beginnings followed an explosion of organism-specific, genome sequence information *Correspondence: accessible via public database. Family A/B DNA polymerases from mesophilic/thermophilic Cheng-Yao Chen, Protein Engineering bacteria/archaea were modified and tested in today’s standard capillary electrophoresis Group, Illumina, 5200 Illumina Way, San Diego, CA 92122, USA (CE) and NGS sequencing platforms.These enzymes were selected for their efficient incor- e-mail:
[email protected] poration of bulky dye-terminator and reversible dye-terminator nucleotides respectively. Third generation, real-time single molecule sequencing platform requires slightly different enzyme properties. Enterobacterial phage φ29 DNA polymerase copies long stretches of DNA and possesses a unique capability to efficiently incorporate terminal phosphate- labeled nucleoside polyphosphates.