Cycles in the Graph - Genome Assembly with de Bruijn Graphs Step by Step

A cyclic graph can be exact while still hiding biological start information.

highlighted = computed this step

A cycle may have no unique biological start

For ATGGAT, the graph returns to its start node. The algorithm chooses a deterministic path, but the graph itself is a cycle.

\text{cycle path nodes}=5

This is a minimal assembly model

Honesty note: real assemblers use coverage, read quality, paired ends, and error correction. This lesson shows only the exact k-mer graph and Eulerian-path core.

\text{exact graph core} \ne \text{full assembler}