Finishing
Any sequencing process generates many lengths of DNA letters - tens or hundreds of letters long. The cloned fragments of DNA, chromosomes and genomes are gradually reassembled by comparing the sequenced fragments and finding overlaps between them.
When you sequence huge numbers of DNA fragments at random and reassemble a genome by computer, there are bound to be misalignments and gaps. Some of these can be avoided by realigning and arranging the existing sequences along a similar genome -- from another individual or a similar species - but a complete sequence still tends to require a level of human intervention or 'curation'. Sequencing centres like the Sanger Institute employ teams of troubleshooters - finishers - to clean up the sequence, fill in the gaps and rearrange wayward pieces of DNA. The finishers use a range of computer software and lab based techniques in order to produce a high quality, accurate, and essentially complete sequence: a finished genome.
