Advancing Viral Metagenomics: Long-Read Support and Customizable Reporting to our Twist Panel Analysis

Viral metagenomic sequencing from patient and environmental samples is challenging due to low viral abundance relative to background DNA. The Twist Comprehensive and Respiratory Viral Research Panels, co-developed by One Codex, use targeted enrichment to significantly boost viral signals, recovering complete genomes from samples containing as few as 50-500 viral copies/mL — even in a 99.999% host background 1

These panels have been instrumental in detecting SARS-CoV-2 co-infections 2 and monitoring H5N1 in wastewater 3, demonstrating their immediate value in public health applications.

To make it even easier to go from sample to answer for viral metagenomics, we’ve released a brand new companion bioinformatics analysis for the Twist Viral Research panels. This analysis delivers clear and user-friendly reporting of detected viruses, performs variant calling, and outputs consensus genome sequences that are suitable for downstream analysis (such as clade detection, annotation or phylogenetics) using tools such as Pangolin and Nextclade. In addition, we’ve added several new features to improve sensitivity and broaden sequencing instrument compatibility.

What’s New

• Enhanced compatibility for Oxford Nanopore and PacBio, enabling accurate analysis with long-read and rapid sequencing
• Additional output files including the BAM alignment files and consensus sequences
• Higher coverage of detectable viruses using the Twist Respiratory Viral Research Panel
• Flexible reporting thresholds to better support a range of diverse laboratory workflows

(Click to expand)

×

See It For Yourself!

See a full report here, or order the Comprehensive or Respiratory Viral Research Panel from Twist to start getting more out of your viral metagenomics data.