Which DNA sequencing method was developed by Frederick Sanger and colleagues?

Frederick Sanger and colleagues developed Sanger sequencing, also called the chain-termination method.

The technique copies a DNA template while occasionally incorporating specially modified chain-terminating nucleotides. When a terminator is added, the new strand stops growing. By separating fragments of different lengths and reading their terminal bases, researchers can reconstruct the sequence.

Sanger sequencing became a foundational method for molecular biology and was widely used during the Human Genome Project. It is highly accurate for relatively short DNA regions, making it especially useful for checking variants, plasmids and individual genes.

Modern next-generation methods can process far more DNA in parallel, so they are usually chosen for whole-genome or large-panel projects. Sanger sequencing remains valuable as a confirmation method. Sanger shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on determining base sequences in nucleic acids.