The development of DNA sequencing technology has evolved significantly over the last three decades. Initially, sequencing complete genomes was prohibitively expensive, requiring less expensive techniques to narrow down regions of interest. This approach needed a map of genome for reference and comparison.

First generation DNA sequencing technology was a multistep procedure involving separation of chromosomes using Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE), restriction digestion, and ligation to high-capacity cloning vectors like BAC, YAC, and PAC. It used sequencing by chain termination with fluorescence-tagged terminating bases detected by a fluorescence detector to identify base position and type.

Next generation DNA sequencing technology uses advanced computing algorithms to assemble millions of short sequence outputs into large contigs representing DNA sequences of large genomes. Although it generates short sequences (75-300 base long), it can sequence millions of DNA in parallel. Techniques include whole genome sequencing (WGS), targeted resequencing, and clinical exome sequencing, with applications like Chipseq and RNAseq.

A recent advance is nanopore sequencing technology, which uses DNA helicase and porins-like molecules to bind, unwind, and push single-stranded DNA through porins to identify base patterns. This technique is simple, rapid, cost-efficient, provides real-time results, and is useful for genotyping and high mobility testing.

The genomic workflow also encompasses metagenomics (sequencing DNA in microbial communities), computational genomics (using high-performance computing clusters), and genome engineering. Transposons can be exploited to engineer knockouts of existing genes.