Sequencing Platforms > Life Technologies – SOLiD

Life Technologies – SOLiD 

Life Technologies’ SOLiD sequencing platform uses emulsion PCR (emPCR) and a sequencing-by-ligation approach that generates results in “color space.”

5500xl SOLiD

The 5500xl SOLiD system is Life Technologies’ flagship sequencer. The official website specifications are listed at up to 180 Gb per run, 2 x 60 bp reads, up to 20-30 Gb per day at 2.8 billion paired-end reads (1.4 billion beads)/run. Additional improvements are expected with the transition from microbeads to nanobeads.

5500 SOLiD

The 5500 SOLiD system is a lower cost, lower throughput sequencing platform. The official Life Technologies specifications are essentially half that of the flagship sequencer: up to 90 Gb per run, 2 x 60 bp reads, up to 10-15 Gb per day at 1.4 billion paired-end reads (700 million beads)/run.

Watch Life Technologies’ SOLiD promotional video.

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Specifications Table

	SOLiD 5500xl	SOLiD 5500xl Wildfire	SOLiD 5500	SOLiD 5500 Wildfire
Total output/run	95 Gb	240 Gb	48 Gb	120 Gb
Run time	6 days	10 days	6 days	10 days
Output/day	16 Gb	24 Gb	8 Gb	12 Gb
Read length	2 x 60	2 x 50	2 x 60	2 x 50
# of single reads	800M	2.4B	400M	1.2B
Instrument price	$595k	$70k upgrade	$349kk	$70k upgrade
Run price	~$10k	~$5k	~$5k	~$2.5k

Applications Table

	SOLiD 5500xl	SOLiD 5500xl Wildfire	SOLiD 5500	SOLiD 5500 Wildfire
Human Whole Genome
Exome
Small Genome
Targeted
Transcriptome
RNA Profiling
ChIP-Seq
Metagenomics

Please contact us at kb@blueseq.com if you have any information or opinions you’d like to share about Life Technologies-SOLiD.