Comparative analysis of novel MGISEQ-2000 sequencing platform vs Illumina HiSeq 2500 for whole-genome sequencing

Abstract

BackgroundMGISEQ-2000 developed by MGI Tech Co. Ltd. (a subsidiary of the BGI Group) is a new competitor of such next-generation sequencing platforms as NovaSeq and HiSeq (Illumina). Its sequencing principle is based on the DNB and cPAS technologies, which were also used in the previous version of the BGISEQ-500 device. However, the reagents for MGISEQ-2000 have been refined and the platform utilizes updated software. The cPAS method is an advanced technology based on cPAL previously created by Complete Genomics. ResultIn this paper, the authors compare the results of the whole-genome sequencing of a DNA sample from a Russian female donor performed on MGISEQ-2000 and Illumina HiSeq 2500 (both PE150). Two platforms were compared in terms of sequencing quality, number of errors and performance. Additionally, we performed variant calling using four different software packages: Samtools mpileaup, Strelka2, Sentieon, and GATK. The accuracy of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection was similar in the data generated by MGISEQ-2000 and HiSeq 2500, which was used as a reference. At the same time, a separate indel analysis of the overall error rate revealed similar FPR values and lower sensitivity. Conclusionsit may be concluded with confidence that the data generated by the analyzed sequencing systems is characterized by comparable magnitudes of error and that MGISEQ-2000 can be used for a wide range of research tasks on par with HiSeq 2500.