Bioinformatic Analyses of Whole-Genome Sequence Data in a Public Health Laboratory

The ability to generate high-quality sequence data in a public health laboratory enables the identification of pathogenic strains, the determination of relatedness among outbreak strains, and the analysis of genetic information regarding virulence and antimicrobial-resistance genes. However, the ana...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kelly F. Oakeson, Jennifer Marie Wagner, Michelle Mendenhall, Andreas Rohrwasser, Robyn Atkinson-Dunn
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2017-09-01
Series:Emerging Infectious Diseases
Subjects:
Online Access:https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/9/17-0416_article
Description
Summary:The ability to generate high-quality sequence data in a public health laboratory enables the identification of pathogenic strains, the determination of relatedness among outbreak strains, and the analysis of genetic information regarding virulence and antimicrobial-resistance genes. However, the analysis of whole-genome sequence data depends on bioinformatic analysis tools and processes. Many public health laboratories do not have the bioinformatic capabilities to analyze the data generated from sequencing and therefore are unable to take full advantage of the power of whole-genome sequencing. The goal of this perspective is to provide a guide for laboratories to understand the bioinformatic analyses that are needed to interpret whole-genome sequence data and how these in silico analyses can be implemented in a public health laboratory setting easily, affordably, and, in some cases, without the need for intensive computing resources and infrastructure.
ISSN:1080-6040
1080-6059