Twist Bioscience, a company offering high-quality synthetic DNA via its silicon platform, announced the launch of Twist Full Length Unique Dual Index Adapters to enable PCR-free whole genome sequencing (WGS) and multiplexing at scale. 

The new adapters include unique dual indexing (UDI) sequences, along with flow cell binding site and sequencing priming site, enabling NGS library preparation in a single ligation step and eliminating the need for PCR and amplification. This can streamline the library preparation workflow, reduce hands-on time, and also eliminate the sequence errors and artifacts potentially introduced during PCR amplification. The product comes with 1,536 UDIs, which are barcoded indexes that allow for the tracking of individual samples. 

This is critical for researchers who multiplex, running tests on many samples at once to lower per-sample costs and increasing efficiency, such as core labs and scientists studying population genetics. Twist Full Length UDI Adapters enable researchers to track and run up to 1,536 samples through a single sequencing run, while maintaining data integrity by identifying errors that occur from index hopping or well-to-well contamination prior to data analysis. 

“As we grow our customer base, we are continuing to expand our offering to meet our customers’ needs, whether that is whole genome, exome or RNA sequencing,” says Emily M. Leproust, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “With Twist Full Length UDI Adapters, we can enable PCR-free whole genome sequencing for our customers pursuing that approach, including our customers in Europe where PCR-free WGS has gained traction.” 

Further reading: Twist Bioscience’s New Human Methylome Panel Enables Detection of Methylation Fractions

Twist Full Length Unique Dual Index Adapters 

Twist Full Length UDI Adapters add to Twist’s portfolio of universal adapter systems, which include Twist Universal Adapter System and Twist High Throughput Universal Adapter System. 

Twist Full Length UDI Adapters include 1,536 indexes and come in automation-friendly configurations of 96 or 384 sets of adapters, giving customers the ability to multiplex anywhere between two and 1,536 samples. The full length UDI adapters can be used in various NGS workflows and for PCR-free whole genome sequencing.