ANALYSIS OF ERRORS IN FINISHED DNA-SEQUENCES - THE SURFACTIN OPERON OF BACILLUS-SUBTILIS AS AN EXAMPLE

Increased productivity in DNA sequencing would not be valid without a straightforward detection and estimation of errors in finished sequenc es, The sequence of the surfactin operon from Bacillus subtilis was ob tained by two different groups and by chance we were also working on t he same chromosome region. Taking advantage of this situation we repor t in this paper, the number and nature of errors found in the overlapp ing part of the DNA sequences obtained by the three laboratories. The coincidence of some of the errors with compression in sequence ladders and with secondary DNA structures as well as the detection of framesh ift errors using computer programs, are demonstrated. Finally we discu ss the definition of a new sequencing strategy that might minimize bot h the error rate and the cost of sequencing.