How to read information from a kmer-distribution plot before denovo assembly

[skblazer]

Hi guys,

I'm a dummy to this field. I know people always plot the kmer-distribution (using illumina hiseq reads or etc.) and can get a lot of information from the plot, e.g., the estimated genome size, repeat content, and heterozygous rate?

Would you please help give a tutorial how to read (or calculate) these information steps by steps, assuming we've know the major peak, left or right secondary peak, and mer-length?

Thanks
SK

[Brian Bushnell]

SK,

Try looking at this thread, and let me know if the explanation is insufficient:

http://seqanswers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48375