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matrix panel). In an ideal scenario, a laboratory routinely engaged in assay development could 68 complete this process within 6 months to 12 months. 69 Detection assays are typically designed using all sequences available at that time. Many of 70 the biodefense assays were designed and tested at least a decade ago when available sequences 71 were limited. Thanks to recent advances in modern sequencing technologies there is a sharp 72 increase in the availability of whole genome sequences (Figure 1). Hence, these older assays 73 have the potential to fail if evaluated against currently available sequences.

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76 Figure 1. Availability of whole genome sequences for representative bacteria. Black bar 77 represents the assay design time frame.

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Moreover, publicly available sequence databases (e.g., GenBank) typically contain only a 80 small fraction of naturally occurring sequence diversity. As a result, detection assays are 81

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