Compressed sensing-based pooling experiments using next generation sequencing

Screening for carriers of rare variants by resequencing is important for the identification of individuals carrying disease alleles. Rapid sequencing by new technologies enables low-cost resequencing of target regions, although it is still prohibitive to test more than a few individuals. Pooling designs can enable detection of carriers of rare alleles in groups of individuals in a more economical manner. Previous pooling strategies were shown only for a relatively low number of individuals in a pool, and required the design of pooling schemes for particular cases. We propose a novel pooling design, based on a compressed sensing approach, which is general, simple and efficient. We model the experimental procedure and show via computer simulations our ability to recover rare allele carriers in larger groups than were possible before, especially when high coverage is obtained for each individual.