Hi, can someone explain what are the differences between targets and baits in exome sequencing? I'm running picard HsMetrics to compute some statistics for exome seq bam files. I've read that "bait" and "target" are very similar in other threads but I'd like to understand the concept behind the two. I'm currently using the same file for data prepared using Agilent SureSelect.
-
-
Well the targets are the things you're trying to capture (generally exons). The baits are the things you use to do the capture.
They don't always overlap as much as you think. Sometimes a bait will be offset to a target due to thermodynamic constraints on positioning or design algorithms trying to avoid repetitive/low complexity sequence.
Hence a read can be:
On bait and on target
On bait but off target
Off bait and off target (noise)
Generally it doesn't matter if you use the targets file to define the metrics - after all, that is what you're interested in. It's not like you're going to go and assess the performance of all the baits in a SureSelect kit..
-
CRISPR/Cas9 sparked the gene editing revolution for both research and therapeutics.1 But this system still showed severe issues that limited its applications. The most prominent were the heavy reliance on PAM sequences, delivery limitations, double-stranded breaks that prompt unintended edits and cell death, and editing inefficiency (both in targeting and in knock-in reliability).
Despite this, “CRISPR helped turn genome editing from a specialized technique into...07-31-2026, 11:01 AM -
Proteomics platforms are evolving rapidly, with advances in mass spectrometry and affinity-based approaches expanding what researchers can detect and at what scale. As the field moves toward deeper proteome coverage and clinical applications, scientists face an increasingly complex landscape of tools. This article will explore how researchers are navigating these choices to find the right platform for their work.
The systematic characterization of the human proteome has...07-20-2026, 11:48 AM
Comment