The Torrent Suite™ Software supports barcoded runs, which allow you to process multiple barcoded samples in a single run on the Ion S5™, Ion PGM™, or Ion Proton™ Sequencer.

Your Torrent Suite™ Software comes pre-installed with several DNA barcode sets, including: Ion Code, ionSet1, ionXpress, ionXpressRNA, MuSeek_5prime_tag, and RNA_Barcode_None. These barcode sets are available for use on the Ion S5™, Ion PGM™, and Ion Proton™ Sequencers.

A barcode run on the Ion sequencer requires a sample-prep kit such as the IonSet1 or Ion Xpress barcode adapter kits. You select a DNA barcode adapter kit when you set up your Ion sequencer run. The barcode sequences for the IonCode, IonSet1, Ion Xpress, and Ion Xpress RNA barcode adapter kits are included with the Torrent Suite™ Software.

This barcode set information is used during analysis to separate out reads by barcode, to remove the barcode and adapters from the read, and to output reads by barcode into BAM files. Reads are aligned against the reference genome, and the results stored in BAM and BAM index (BAI) files for each barcode. Reads that can not be classified as being one of the barcodes in the designated set are grouped into a "no-match" group, and alignment against the reference also performed on this group. The new barcode results files are available in the run report File Links section.

Alignment metrics for each barcode are available in the run report page for the given run.

You can add additional DNA barcode sets by clicking Settings () > References: