drop the Hiseqs - get an X10 instead

[luc]

In a new episode of Illumina's arbitrary gaming of the sequencing market fight for scientific progress, it opens the X10s and X5s for the resequencing of all genomes:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151006005360/en/#.VhTI1JbJUwB

Theoretically, this leaves RNA-seq for the Hiseqs.

[AllSeq]

In a new episode of Illumina's arbitrary gaming of the sequencing market fight for scientific progress, it opens the X10s and X5s for the resequencing of all genomes:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151006005360/en/#.VhTI1JbJUwB

Theoretically, this leaves RNA-seq for the Hiseqs.

Not quite. Illumina is still (arbitrarily) limiting the HiSeq X to "large" genomes. They're trying to encourage (accommodate) large projects sequencing crop species, livestock, model mammalian species, etc. Smaller genomes need not apply.

[luc]

The press release says:
" ... will allow for market expansion and population-scale sequencing of non-human species in a variety of markets, including plants and livestock in agricultural research and model organisms in pharmaceutical research. Previously, it has been cost prohibitive to sequence non-human genomes at high coverage. ..."
This can be anything as far as I can see. Illumina is not going to check on what is being sequenced anyhow.

[AllSeq]

I can't say what Illumina will and won't check, but based on what info we've been able to gather (customer conversations, analyst questions), Illumina definitely intends this to be for large genomes only. That said, I'm not sure how useful such a large platform would be for small genomes - it would take a LOT of samples to fill out a run. But maybe there are ultra-large small genome projects just waiting for this opportunity.

[GenoMax]

@AllSeq: Analysis of HiSeq X data happens on the attached computer (or in BaseSpace) so this "large" genome restriction could be enforced "inline"?

It sounds to me like they are opening HiSeq X up for large plant/animal biotech companies that previously could not use HiSeq X. They probably have tens of thousands of samples that could be multiplexed.

[AllSeq]

@GenoMax: We don't use the instruments ourselves, so I'm not really sure about the workflow and exactly how Illumina monitors what's going on. We've heard of a couple of examples of providers 'bending the rules', but it always seems to be with the permission of Illumina. We've never heard of a full-blown 'breach of contract'. Not sure if that elicits a tap on the shoulder from the local FAS or perhaps a friendly call from Jay Flatley? ;-)

And, yes, I think they're definitely looking to serve the PAG market. It's pretty clear from their quarterly reports (and from what we see on the Sequencing Marketplace) that there's quite a bit of excess X capacity out there. Illumina would love to fill that up (and entice new markets to purchase X's).