What sequencing technologies are commonly used for RNA-seq?

The Illumina platform is currently the most widely used technology (e..g MiSeq and NextSeq500) for RNA-Seq. The platform has two flow cells, each with 8 separate lanes for sequencing reactions to occur. The sequencing reactions take between 1.5 to 12 days to complete. The MiSeq sequencer allows for rapid turnaround times, yielding approximately 30 million paired-end reads in one day. This instrument allows for rapid turnaround time for small scale transcriptome profiling. Smart-Seq2 is another method used for RNA-seq, and generates full-length transcripts. Thus, it is suitable for discovery of alternative-splicing events allele-specific expression using single-nucleotide polymorphism. Another method is Ion Torrent technology, which detects hydrogen ion release during the integration of a new nucleotide in the growing DNA template. A hydrogen ion is released as a byproduct of this process.