WGS
Science & Engineering abbreviation · Genetics
| Stands for | Whole-genome sequencing |
|---|---|
| Categories | Science & Engineering |
WGS stands for Whole-genome sequencing, a genetics abbreviation.
Determination of nearly the complete DNA sequence of an organism's genome, about 3 billion base pairs for a human, including non-coding regions. WGS is used to diagnose rare diseases, trace foodborne outbreaks, track virus variants and study evolution.
Example: Public health labs use WGS to link Listeria cases from different states to a single food source.
Usage notes
The United Kingdom's 100,000 Genomes Project, completed in 2018, used WGS to diagnose rare diseases and cancers in the NHS. Coverage, written as 30x, indicates how many times each base is read on average. Compared with exome sequencing, WGS also detects structural and non-coding variants.
Related abbreviations
More genetics abbreviations
- AD – Autosomal dominant
- AR – Autosomal recessive
- atDNA – Autosomal DNA
- BAC – Bacterial artificial chromosome
- BLAST – Basic Local Alignment Search Tool
- bp – Base pair
- cDNA – Complementary DNA
- ChIP-seq – Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing
- cM – Centimorgan
- CNV – Copy-number variation
- CpG – Cytosine-phosphate-guanine (site)
- dsDNA – Double-stranded DNA