PBSIM3: a simulator for all types of PacBio and ONT long reads

Long-read sequencers, such as Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) sequencers, have improved their read length and accuracy, thereby opening up unprecedented research. Many tools and algorithms have been developed to analyze long reads, and rapid progress in PacBio and ONT has further accelerated their development. Together with the development of high-throughput sequencing technologies and their analysis tools, many read simulators have been developed and effectively utilized. PBSIM is one of the popular long-read simulators. In this study, we developed PBSIM3 with three new functions: error models for long reads, multi-pass sequencing for high-fidelity read simulation and transcriptome sequencing simulation. Therefore, PBSIM3 is now able to meet a wide range of long-read simulation requirements.