Sequencing technology

Longest sequencing read length

SeqDesk — compiled from literature & vendor data

The longest read length practically achievable each year, log scale — and a counter-intuitive story. Sanger reads reached ~500 bp (1977) to ~900 bp (capillary, 1990s) and stayed the ceiling for a decade: when next-generation sequencing arrived it traded length for throughput, so the newest 2006-2010 instruments produced SHORTER reads (Illumina ~35 bp, 454 ~400 bp) than 1977 Sanger — the flat plateau here. Long reads then exploded: PacBio RS ~10 kb (2011), PacBio RS II ~64.5 kb in a published dataset (2014), and an ultra-long Oxford Nanopore read of ~882 kb (2018) — roughly 1,000x beyond Sanger. Several points are dataset maxima or practical ceilings rather than guaranteed specs. Not forecast: read length is platform-defined, not a smooth trend.

• PacBio — SMRT sequencing history
• Oxford Nanopore — history & ultra-long reads

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