While whole genome sequencing (WGS) remains costly and requires
intensive labor and elaborate analytical tools for assembly, whole exome sequencing
(WES) is relatively cheaper and easier. Compared to WGS, WES can be considered as
an efficient approach when the protein-coding regions are the only concern, because
this type of sequencing focuses on the exon regions and its desired sequencing depth
can be easily reached. WES is frequently confused with transcriptome analysis because
both types of libraries contain solely the exonal sequences. However, the former is
generated from genomic DNA fragments, while the latter from expressed mRNA
molecules. Readers are asked to distinguish the differences between these two libraries
beforehand.
Keywords: Whole exome sequencing, WES, Whole genome sequencing, WGS.
