Sudoku Game Inspires Gene Sequencing Solution

July 01, 2009

Sudoku, logic puzzle that folks are addicted to, is not just for passing the time. It's helping to speed up genetic sequencing.

Geneticists from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have a found a way to use Sudoku to sequence more than a hundred thousand DNA samples.

Until now, only a single DNA sample could be sequenced at a time.

Not only does the new method save time and improve efficiency, but it dramatically cuts cost. A sequencing project that uses conventional methods can cost $10 million. But that figure can be cut to $80,000 or less by using the Soduku method.

You can read the original paper, which was published in Genome Research here.

Comments

[Displeased]

$15 to read a document that should probably be free? Give me a break, or the article...

[Howard]

The PR doesn't say Sudoku is a 2000-year old Chinese game. It says that it's based on the 2000-yr old Chinese remainder theorem: "The key to the team’s innovation is the pooling strategy, which is based on the 2,000-year-old Chinese remainder theorem."

[bubfranks]

"A sequencing project that uses conventional methods can cost $10 million. But that figure can be cut to $80,000 or less by using the Soduku method."

Where are you getting these numbers from?

[shaik junaid]

hi i want soduku games as my daily needs, so pls proceed me

[Scott]

There is going to be a lot of grandmas sequencing DNA in the NY Times "just to pass the time!"

[Ray]

GE,

Perhaps it is you that may want to do some additional research. The modern version of Sudoku was created by Howard Gerns, an architect, in 1979. However, it was first publicized in France in 1895 by Le Siecle. Even before that though, swiss mathmatician Leonhard Euler created a similar puzzle game with 81 squares back in the 1700s.

The fact that it's a 2000 year old Chinese game is just a myth (meaning no proof) but I personally believe it. Of course there's also the arabaic theory too.

Who do you think deserves the credit?

[GE]

I was somewhat skeptical of the age of sudoku as well. I checked it out - turns out an architect in 1979 created the game. . . May want to do some fact checking - but regardless - it still rocks that it can make genome sequencing exponentially cheaper!
GE
www.northwest-casinos.com

[2000 Year Old Chinese Puzzle]

I've read a few histories of Sudoku, and this is the first claim I've seen that it's a 2000 year old Chinese game. It's Arabic Numerals.
What is this claim based on?