Health & biology · 1977

Sanger DNA sequencing

Chain-terminating nucleotides let scientists read DNA letter by letter.

Frederick Sanger published dideoxy sequencing in 1977 and read the 5,386-base genome of phage phiX174. Automated Sanger machines later read the Human Genome.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

Restriction enzymes 1970
DNA double helix 1953

What it led to 4

PCR 1983
AZT, first HIV drug 1987
Human Genome Project 2003
CRISPR bacterial immunity 2007

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Cost to sequence a human genome Latest: 525 $ (2022) Source: Our World in Data