Phase-protecting reagent flow orderings for use in sequencing-by-synthesis

1. A method for nucleic acid sequencing, comprising:

disposing a plurality of template polynucleotide strands in a plurality of defined spaces disposed on a sensor array, at least some of the template polynucleotide strands having a sequencing primer and a polymerase operably bound therewith;

exposing the template polynucleotide strands with the sequencing primer and the polymerase operably bound therewith to a series of flows of nucleotide species flowed according to a predetermined ordering; and

determining, for each of the series of flows of nucleotide species, how many nucleotide incorporations occurred for that particular flow to determine a sequence of nucleotides corresponding to the template polynucleotide strands,

wherein the predetermined ordering:

(a) is not a series of consecutive repetitions of a 4-flow permutation of four different nucleotide species,

(b) is not specifically tailored to a particular combination of a particular template polynucleotide strand to be sequenced and a particular sequencing primer to be used, and

(c) comprises a phase-protecting flow ordering that comprises a de Bruijn sequence of nucleotide species A, C, G, and T such that:

(i) every possible subsequence of two of the nucleotide species A, C, G, and T appears once as a sequence of consecutive nucleotide species in the de Bruijn sequence or

(ii) every possible subsequence of three of the nucleotide species A, C, G, and T appears once as a sequence of consecutive nucleotide species in the de Bruijn sequence.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the de Bruijn sequence does not include any consecutive repeats of the same nucleotide species.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the de Bruijn sequence is such that every possible subsequence of two of the nucleotide species A, C, G, and T appears once as a sequence of consecutive nucleotide species in the de Bruijn sequence.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the de Bruijn sequence is such that every possible subsequence of three of the nucleotide species A, C, G, and T appears once as a sequence of consecutive nucleotide species in the de Bruijn sequence.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined ordering comprises a portion that is a de Bruijn sequence and a portion that is not a de Bruijn sequence.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined ordering consists of only the phase-protecting flow ordering.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the phase-protecting flow ordering comprising the de Bruijn sequence comprises a flow of T, followed by a flow of A, followed by a flow of C, followed by a flow of G, followed by a flow of T, followed by a flow of C, followed by a flow of T, followed by a flow of G, followed by a flow of A, followed by a flow of G, followed by a flow of C, followed by a flow of A.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the phase-protecting flow ordering comprises a first set of flows and a second set of flows, the second set of flows being derived from a remapping of two or more of four nucleotide species flowed in the first set of flows.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the second set of flows is derived from a remapping of all four of the nucleotide species in the first set of flows.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the phase-protecting flow ordering comprises a flow ordering in which at least one given nucleotide species is contiguously flowed two or more times.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined ordering is selected based on an assessment of dephasing merit and efficiency of extension calculated for a plurality of candidate flow orderings using simulation sequencing data obtained for a plurality of random test sequences.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor array is configured to detect hydrogen ions released by incorporation of nucleotides.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor array is configured to detect inorganic pyrophosphate released by incorporation of nucleotides.