School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom.
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2010 Oct;13(5):625-31. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2010.08.003. Epub 2010 Sep 16.
High-throughput sequencing is sweeping through clinical microbiology, transforming our discipline in its wake. It is already providing an enhanced view of pathogen biology through rapid and inexpensive whole-genome sequencing and more sophisticated applications such as RNA-seq. It also promises to deliver high-resolution genomic epidemiology as the ultimate typing method for bacteria. However, the most revolutionary effect of this 'disruptive technology' is likely to be creation of a novel sequence-based, culture-independent diagnostic microbiology that incorporates microbial community profiling, metagenomics and single-cell genomics. We should prepare for the coming 'technological singularity' in sequencing, when this technology becomes so fast and so cheap that it threatens to out-compete existing diagnostic and typing methods in microbiology.
高通量测序正在席卷临床微生物学领域，改变着我们这一学科。它已经通过快速且廉价的全基因组测序以及 RNA 测序等更复杂的应用，为病原体生物学提供了更深入的了解。它还承诺通过高分辨率基因组流行病学成为细菌的最终分型方法。然而，这种“颠覆性技术”最具革命性的影响可能是创建一种新的基于序列、无需培养的诊断微生物学，它将整合微生物群落分析、宏基因组学和单细胞基因组学。我们应该为测序技术即将到来的“技术奇点”做好准备，届时这项技术将变得如此快速和廉价，以至于有可能在微生物学领域威胁到现有的诊断和分型方法的地位。
