What are the advantages of whole exome sequencing?

Whole exome sequencing (WES) is a laboratory technique that focuses on sequencing only the coding regions of a genome. This process offers several advantages, primarily due to the smaller region to be sequenced.  

• In WES, sequencing is limited to protein coding regions, which make up only about 1% to 2% of the entire genome. This reduces the cost of sequencing a targeted region at a higher depth. 
• Because the reads represent less than 2% of the whole genome, it costs less to sequence a targeted region at a higher depth. 
• Because the reads represent less than 2% of the genome, it also reduces the storage requirement and the cost of analysis.