With the continued development of precision medicine, high-throughput sequencing technologies are facing increasing demands for accuracy, comprehensiveness and sensitivity. In response to these requirements, MGI introduced a new generation of antibody-based sequencing reagents at the 2019 International Genomics Conference (ICG-14): the CoolMPS high-throughput sequencing reagent kit.
According to publicly available information, CoolMPS is a unique sequencing chemistry that can be viewed as an upgraded version of StandardMPS, the existing sequencing reagent used on MGI platforms. The method uses natural bases rather than modified nucleotides. This helps avoid the accumulation of chemical “scars” that can occur during traditional sequencing processes, which may affect subsequent reads. As a result, CoolMPS delivers improved accuracy and enhanced sequencing performance.
In February this year, MGI announced that sequencing products based on CoolMPS chemistry would officially enter the United States market in April. For researchers and industry users, the most important factor is performance in real-world applications. The CoolMPS reagent kit is compatible with MGI’s DNBSEQ sequencing platforms and works with existing conventional library preparation workflows.
Recent feedback indicates that multiple research groups and laboratories around the world have already adopted the CoolMPS reagent kit for sequencing applications, with evaluation results exceeding expectations.
Higher data quality supporting more reliable analysis
Beijing Gene+ Technology Co., Ltd., a leading company in precision medicine, evaluated CoolMPS sequencing reagents for early tumour screening applications. The team analysed 19 liver cancer samples and compared them with 28 previously tested healthy samples.
Using the same sequencer (MGISEQ-2000), the Q30 score generated with CoolMPS sequencing reagents increased by 5% (Figure 1), while the mismatch rate decreased by more than 50%. In addition, the assay detected a greater number of mutation sites. The proportion of high-quality reads at the same locus increased by at least 10% (Table 1), improving sensitivity for mutation detection.
Higher data quality enabling improved detection of low-frequency mutations
GeneWell Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., a developer of molecular diagnostic standards, evaluated the CoolMPS sequencing reagents using its pan-cancer 800 gDNA reference standard (GW-OGTM800). The standard covers more than 720 cancer-related mutation sites, including variants associated with lung, colorectal and breast cancers.
The study compared performance between the Illumina X10 platform and the MGISEQ-2000 platform using the CoolMPS reagent kit.
The results showed that Q30, mapping rate and coverage were broadly comparable between the two platforms (Figure 2), while the duplication rate for CoolMPS sequencing was lower.
Importantly, among 13 loci with ultra-low frequency mutations (preset mutation rates between 1% and 7%), the Illumina platform detected 10 of 13 variants (76.9%). In comparison, the MGISEQ-2000 platform using CoolMPS reagents detected 12 of 13 variants (92.3%), demonstrating improved sensitivity in identifying low-frequency mutations.
GeneWell standard product link:
https://www.gene-well.com/product/tumour-gene/tumour/oncosight
In addition to recognition from domestic users, several international scientists also highlighted the performance of CoolMPS sequencing reagents at the recent Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) conference.
Dr Steven Jones, Deputy Director and Head of Bioinformatics at the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer Agency (Canada), noted:
“Offline data from WGS, RNA sequencing and single-cell ATAC sequencing of tumour samples show that tumour genome analysis results are largely consistent across different sequencing platforms.”
Dr Nik Matthews from the Institute of Cancer Research (UK) commented:
“After switching to the latest CoolMPS sequencing kit, Q30 improved significantly and overall data quality increased.”
Jiannis Ragoussis, Head of Genomics at McGill University, added:
“In the past we pooled samples mainly to reduce costs. With improved performance, this may no longer be necessary.”
Currently, many global partners of MGI are conducting further evaluations and applications of CoolMPS sequencing technology. As more research groups generate data, the platform is expected to support an even broader range of sequencing applications.
The launch of the CoolMPS sequencing product further enhances the performance, data quality, practicality and cost efficiency of the DNBSEQ series sequencing systems. The technology is expected to help drive the next stage of development in gene sequencing, supporting both scientific research and industry innovation.
