Next-generation genome sequencers compared

http://www.nature.com/news/next-generation-genome-sequencers-compared-1.10497?WT.ec_id=NEWS-20120424

Roche’s 454 GS Junior,
Illumina’s MiSeq and
Life Technologies’ Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM)

So who won?

Each platform has strengths and weaknesses. If you want the most throughout per hour, the Ion Torrent PGM does that. If you need the highest throughput per run, the MiSeq is there. Accuracy-wise, the MiSeq is best; for generating the longest reads, the 454 is best. Both the PGM and 454 have some problems with accuracy concerning homopolymers [stretches of repeating bases]. And, of course, a user is going to want to look at cost. Part of the point of our paper is that genome sequencing is not a one-size-fits-all solution.