Unique molecular identifiers (UMIs), or molecular barcodes (MBC) are short sequences or molecular "tags" added to DNA fragments in some
next generation sequencing
DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. The ...
library preparation protocols to identify the input DNA molecule. These tags are added before
PCR amplification, and can be used to reduce errors and quantitative
bias
Bias is a disproportionate weight ''in favor of'' or ''against'' an idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individual, a group, ...
introduced by the amplification.
Applications include
variant calling in
ctDNA
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is tumor-derived fragmented DNA in the bloodstream that is not associated with cells. ctDNA should not be confused with cell-free DNA (cfDNA), a broader term which describes DNA that is freely circulating in the blood ...
,
gene expression
Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product that enables it to produce end products, protein or non-coding RNA, and ultimately affect a phenotype, as the final effect. The ...
in
single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) and
haplotyping
A haplotype (haploid genotype) is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent.
Many organisms contain genetic material ( DNA) which is inherited from two parents. Normally these organisms have their DNA org ...
via linked reads.
See also
*
Batch effect
In molecular biology, a batch effect occurs when non-biological factors in an experiment cause changes in the data produced by the experiment. Such effects can lead to inaccurate conclusions when their causes are correlated with one or more outcome ...
*
Multiplex (assay)
In the biological sciences, a multiplex assay is a type of immunoassay that uses magnetic beads to simultaneously measure multiple analytes in a single experiment. A multiplex assay is a derivative of an ELISA using beads for binding the capture a ...
References
DNA sequencing
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