Why it’s hard to assemble repetitive DNA regions

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2

So here are EssOh and OhOne assembling a rather frustrating puzzle containing cows. The same 5-6 cow “characters” are repeated, which is a perfect way to illustrate low-complexity DNA sequences, and why they are hard to assemble, especially when the pieces are small, like those you get from some second generation sequencers.

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2 Responses to “Why it’s hard to assemble repetitive DNA regions”

  1. Moreno says:

    That’s incredible! I have just blogged about this issue with an identical metaphor! http://mygenomix.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/assemblathon-bioinformatici-a-duello/ (it’s in italian)

    I chose fractals instead of repetitive cows though 🙂

  2. Iddo says:

    And we both used Educa puzzles…