<unk>  is the process of determining the precise order of nucleotides within a DNA molecule. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases—adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine—in a strand of DNA.  The advent of rapid<unk>  methods has greatly accelerated biological and medical research and discovery.
Knowledge of DNA sequences has become indispensable for basic biological research, and in numerous applied fields such as diagnostic, biotechnology, forensic biology, and biological systematics. The rapid speed of<unk>  attained with modern<unk>  technology has been instrumental in the<unk>  of complete DNA sequences, or genomes of numerous types and species of life, including the human genome and other complete DNA sequences of many animal, plant, and microbial species.
The first DNA sequences were obtained in the early 1970s by academic researchers using laborious methods based on two-dimensional chromatography. Following the development of fluorescence-based<unk>  methods with automated analysis,<unk>  has become easier and orders of magnitude faster.
DNA sequencing
Molecular cloning
Molecular microbiology
Enzyme assay
Sequencing
DNA microarray
Polymerase chain reaction
Nucleic acid hybridization