Single duplex DNA sequencing with CODEC detects mutations with high sensitivity

Detecting mutations from single DNA molecules is crucial in many fields but challenging. Next generation sequencing (NGS) affords tremendous throughput but cannot directly sequence double-stranded DNA molecules (single duplexes) to discern the true mutations on both strands. Here, we present Concatenating Original Duplex for Error Correction (CODEC) which confers single duplex resolution to NGS. CODEC affords 1,000-fold higher accuracy than NGS, using up to 100-fold fewer reads than Duplex Sequencing. CODEC revealed mutation frequencies of 2.72 x 10-8 in sperm of a 39-year-old individual, and somatic mutations acquired with age in blood cells. CODEC detected genome-wide clonal hematopoiesis mutations from single DNA molecules, single mutated duplexes from tumor genomes and liquid... (for more see dbGaP study page.)