Hi all,
As far as I know, at the first, the genome / transcriptome will be indexed by the related software for mapping, and then mapping will be done. Could you please explain to me what is the concept of indexing and why it should be done? Sorry if you find this question is a dumb one.
Thanks in advance
It is similar to the index of a book: it allows fast searches on reduced or compressed, yet useful, information. I like this intro for a friendly introduction on Burrows-Wheeler Transform and FM Index, two common techniques used in bioinformatics.