Modern Hardware and Software Solutions for Whole-Genome Sequencing, Prospects of Their Implementation in the Practice of Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

• Published in: Journal of NBC Protection Corps Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 164 - 175
• Main Authors: Petrov, A. A., Kazantsev, A. V., Kovalchuk, E. A., Pavlyukov, M. Yu, Sapkulov, A. V., Kutaev, D. A., Borisevich, S. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 04.09.2024
• ISSN: 2587-5728; 3034-2791
• DOI: 10.35825/2587-5728-2024-8-2-164-175

One of the promising areas for improving laboratory diagnostics is the active introduction of next-generation sequencing (NGS), which retains the key advantages of molecular tests and allows the detection of a wide range of diverse microorganisms. Despite the significant advantages of NGS in the laboratory diagnosis of infectious diseases, there are also a number of objective obstacles to its widespread use. The purpose of the work is to consider existing hardware and software solutions for whole-genome sequencing, as well as the prospects and problems of their implementation in the practice of the RCB protection troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for the identification of pathogens of various etiologies. The source base of the research includes an analysis of data published in domestic and English-language scientific publications, as well as posted on the Internet. The research method is analytical. Results. Materials are presented that summarize data on three generations of sequencing technologies, their advantages and disadvantages. It is shown that with the development of NGS technologies, many technical problems arise that need to be deeply analyzed and solved. Despite its great potential, NGS has not yet been widely adopted in clinical microbiology laboratories, partly due to the lack of standardized workflows. Conclusions. For the successful use of NGS by units of the RCB protection troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to solve the main problem, which is the development of domestic hardware, appropriate bioinformatics tools and databases certified in accordance with the established procedure for functioning offiine without connecting to the Internet.