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November 16, 2021  |  Products, procedures + protocols

Introducing first fully-kitted solution for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance and microbial whole genome assembly with HiFi sequencing

These developments advance the ability of laboratories to identify and track infectious disease threats
SARS-CoV-2 mutates rapidly but a new solution is now available for public health laboratories in the race against pathogen evolution—the HiFiViral SARS-CoV-2 Kit. Unlike amplicon-based assays that require periodic updates and subsequent revalidation to ensure all known SARS-CoV-2 variants are detectable, the new HiFiViral SARS-CoV-2 Kit gives researchers a more complete view of all mutations, ensuring that emerging variants can be captured for further study.

This fully kitted solution brings trusted, accurate HiFi sequencing to SARS-CoV-2 variant detection. Compared with short read sequencing, HiFi sequencing provides a more comprehensive view of viral variation of all types and enables laboratories to identify multiple viral mutations, including minor variants that may be emerging within each sample.
HiFiViral SARS-CoV-2 KitTo date, amplicon-based technologies for pathogen surveillance have limited the ability of laboratories to identify new SARS-CoV-2 mutations in real time. Some variants affect primer binding, which challenge current Dx detection tests and the ability to call new variants under variant profiling applications. This limitation can hamper efforts to identify new variants and understand their spread across populations. Without surveillance, public health decision makers fly blind to emerging mutations, and this can lengthen the timely response needed to prevent spread.

The HiFiViral SARS-CoV-2 Kit enables cost-effective viral sequencing using molecular inversion probes, which address common challenges of amplicon-based solutions by simplifying workflows, offering mutation resilience, and enabling cost-effective scalability. Paired with SMRT Link v10.2 software, the full solution gives laboratories the ability to perform quality checks on experiments and generate submission-ready files for surveillance. The automated sequencing and analysis workflow can be initiated with one touch and completed overnight.

Microbial Whole Genome Assembly Joins Suite of HiFi WGS Applications


microbesWe are also happy to announce an updated protocol, analysis software, and the SMRTbell Barcoded Adapter Plate 3.0, which bring the power of HiFi reads to microbial whole genome assembly.

The new solution provides:
• 96 barcoded adapters, with improved design for multiplexing
• Increased throughput, doubling the number of samples per run from 48 to 96
• Reduced cost per sample from higher multiplexing
• Fast assembly of reference-quality genomes with the SMRTLink v10.2 Microbial

Assembly application for HiFi reads
Public health and research labs now have an improved tool for investigating outbreaks in the food supply, tracking antimicrobial resistance, and fully characterizing emerging pathogen threats. Paired with the new HiFiViral SARS-CoV-2 kit, these innovations equip public health and microbial research labs with a powerful selection of applications to service a broad range of use cases via Sequel II and Sequel IIe systems, setting the standard for high quality reference genomes.


The HiFiViral SARS-CoV-2 kit is currently shipping. The components for the HiFi microbial whole genome assembly application will be available this quarter. Connect with a scientist to learn more how these new products can advance your microbial research.

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