From: The properties and applications of single-molecule DNA sequencing
 | Read length | Read count | Sequence throughputb | Quantitative accuracy | Single pass error rate | Multiple pass error rate | Consensus error rate | Sample manipulations or perturbations | Sample preparation costs | Informatics costs | Optimal single-molecule technology |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genomics | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   Variant detection |  |  | High |  |  |  | High |  |  |  | Helicos |
   Rare variant detection |  |  | High |  | Moderate | High |  |  |  |  | Helicos |
   Whole genome assembly | High |  | High |  |  |  |  |  |  | High | Mix |
   Metagenomics | High |  | High |  | Moderate |  |  |  |  | High | PacBio/Starlight |
   Degraded samples |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | High |  |  | Helicos |
   Copy number variation |  | High |  | High |  |  |  |  |  |  | Helicos |
   Large structural variations | High |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | Optical mapping |
Transcriptomics | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   Gene expression |  | High |  | High | Moderate |  |  | Moderate | High |  | Helicos |
   Splicing patterns | High | Moderate |  | Moderate |  |  |  |  |  |  | PacBio/Starlight |
   Small RNA quantification |  | High |  | High | Moderate |  |  | High | High |  | Helicos |
   Novel RNA discovery |  |  |  |  | Moderate |  | High | High |  |  | Helicos |