Infectious diseases are caused by various pathogens, including as-yet unidentifi ed microorganisms. Because procedures for detecting and identifying pathogens vary according to the target microorganism, clinical examinations require a variety of media, reagents, and culture methods. In addition, conventional examination protocols usually require much labor, time, and skill, thus forming an obstacle to a prompt diagnosis.
Newly developed, "next-generation" DNA sequencers can determine >100 megabases of DNA sequences per run (1). These new technologies eliminate the bacterial cloning step used in traditional Sanger sequencing; instead, they amplify single isolated DNA molecules and analyze them with massively parallel processing. To develop a new system to promptly detect and identify various infectious pathogens, we tapped into the potential of these novel sequencers. We directly detected the causative pathogenic microbe in a clinical human sample (diarrheic feces) by means of unbiased high-throughput DNA sequencing.
