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Sequencing behemoth Illumina is set to buy Pacific Biosciences, a leader in long-read sequencing technology, for $1.2 billion, according to an announcement made by the company last week (November 1). Illumina’s CEO says PacBio will complement the company’s short-read sequencing products.
“What it will mean for the market and customers is that by combining these two approaches and the data from these two companies we will give consumers a more perfect view of the genome,” Illumina’s CEO Francis deSouza tells Forbes.
Illumina’s sequencers stich together the sequences of small stretches of DNA, whereas PacBio has advanced the technique of scanning long expanses of the genome, albeit at greater cost. A PacBio sequencer can analyze a human genome for $12,000—Illumina can do it for less than $1,000—although technological upgrades should make long-read sequencing cheaper in the near future.
The greater accuracy of PacBio’s approach is a draw. ...
