Unique molecular identifiers (UMIs), or molecular barcodes (MBC) are short sequences or molecular "tags" added to DNA fragments in some
next generation sequencing library preparation protocols to identify the input DNA molecule. These tags are added before
PCR amplification, and can be used to reduce errors and quantitative
bias
Bias is a disproportionate weight ''in favor of'' or ''against'' an idea or thing, usually in a way that is inaccurate, closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individ ...
introduced by the amplification.
Applications include analysis of unique cDNAs to avoid PCR biases in
iCLIP,
in
ctDNA
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is tumor-derived fragmented DNA in the bloodstream that is not associated with cells. ctDNA should not be confused with cell-free DNA (cfDNA), a broader term which describes DNA that is freely circulating in the bloo ...
,
gene expression
Gene expression is the process (including its Regulation of gene expression, regulation) by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product that enables it to produce end products, proteins or non-coding RNA, ...
in
single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) and
haplotyping via linked reads.
See also
*
Batch effect
*
Multiplex (assay)
In the biological sciences, a multiplex assay is a type of immunoassay that uses magnetic beads to simultaneously measure multiple analytes in a single experiment. A multiplex assay is a derivative of an ELISA using beads for binding the capture a ...
*
BRB-seq
Bulk RNA barcoding and sequencing (BRB-seq) is an ultra-high-throughput bulk 3' mRNA-seq technology that uses early-stage sample barcoding and Unique molecular identifier, unique molecular identifiers (UMIs) to allow the pooling of up to 384 samp ...
References
DNA sequencing
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