Advanced technologies that read long strings of DNA can produce flawed data that could affect genetic studies, research suggests. New methods that can read lengthy sections of genetic material — categorised by a series of letters — are up to 99.8 per cent accurate, however, in a genome of more than 3 billion letters, this may equate to millions of mistakes in the results. Previously, genetic sequencing technologies were focused on reading short strings of DNA. These sequences would be patched together, which is time consuming and labour intensive.
— source ed.ac.uk | Jan 22, 2019