Sanger Sequencing

How do scientists uncover genetic changes buried within billions of DNA base pairs? One powerful method is Sanger sequencing (also known as the chain termination method)—a technique that reveals the exact order of nucleotides in a DNA strand. This scrollable interactive introduces Sanger sequencing, explaining how fluorescently-tagged molecules and capillary electrophoresis allow scientists to decode DNA one base at a time.

Topics

  • base pairs
  • capillary electrophoresis
  • chain termination method
  • chain termination
  • chromatogram
  • ddNTP
  • deoxynucleotide triphosphate
  • dideoxynucleotide triphosphate
  • DNA polymerase
  • DNA primer
  • DNA replication
  • DNA sequence
  • DNA strand
  • dNTP
  • fluorescent tag
  • forensic analysis
  • Frederick Sanger
  • genetic disease
  • nucleotide sequence
  • Sanger sequencing
  • single nucleotide polymorphism
  • SNP
  • target DNA
  • template DNA