SeqControl: Process Control for DNA Sequencing. SeqControl

As next-generation sequencing (NGS) continues to increase in speed and throughput, routine clinical and industrial application draws steadily closer. These “production” uses of NGS will require enhanced quality-monitoring and quality-control to optimize output and reduce costs. We therefore developed a framework called SeqControl for predicting sequencing quality and coverage using a set of 15 metrics describing overall coverage, coverage distribution, base-wise coverage and base-wise quality. Using whole-genome sequences of 27 prostate cancers and 26 normal references we derive multivariate models that predict sequencing quality and depth. SeqControl robustly predicts how much sequencing is required to reach a given coverage depth (AUC = 0.993), accurately classifies clinically relevant formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples and makes predictions from as little as 1/8 of a lane of sequencing data (AUC = 0.967). These techniques can be immediately incorporated into existing NGS pipelines to monitor data quality in real-time. SeqControl represents a first step towards statistical process-control for NGS.