Marking a major advancement in scalable multiomic analysis, Illumina, Inc.has announced the launch of its novel 5-base solution, which enables the simultaneous and cost-effective detection of both genomic variants and DNA methylation from a single sample.

This proprietary technology, driven by Illumina's specialized 5-base chemistry and custom DRAGEN algorithms, is designed to provide high-resolution insights into the methylome and genome, significantly broadening the scope of biological inquiry for researchers. Unlike traditional methods, Illumina's chemistry selectively converts methylated cytosine to thymine, preserving genomic complexity and maximizing biological insights per run.

The 5-base solution is available through two commercially ready kits—Illumina 5-Base DNA Prep for whole-genome coverage and Illumina 5-Base DNA Prep with Enrichment for targeted regions—both compatible with NovaSeq and NextSeq 2000 systems.

This powerful workflow, which includes simultaneous methylation profiling and high-accuracy variant calling via DRAGEN, is poised to help researchers uncover disease mechanisms, identify biomarkers for cancer and genetic disease, and ultimately accelerate precision medicine breakthroughs. Notably, the solution is already demonstrating its power, with an early access customer from the London Health Sciences Center Research Institute planning to present at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting on its ability to detect variants and methylation signatures across rare disease samples, illustrating its potential to offer a more complete view of these complex conditions.