Number of reads successfully mapped (singletons & both mates) to the reference genome in the sample. Genetic variation, in particular structural variants, ensure that every sequenced sample is genetically different from the reference genome it was aligned to. Small differences against the reference are accepted, but, for more significant variation, the read can fail to be placed. Therefore, it is not expected that the mapped reads rate will hit 100%, but it is supposed to be high (usually >90%). Calculations are made taking into account the proportion of mapped reads against the total number of reads (mapped/mapped+unmapped).

When working with paired-end sequencing, each DNA fragment is sequenced from both ends, creating two mates for each pair. This chart shows the fraction of reads in pairs where both of the mates successfully map to the reference genome. .

Notice that reads not mapped to the expected distance are also included as occurs with the proper pairs chart.

When working with paired-end sequencing, each DNA fragment is sequenced from both ends, creating two mates for each pair. If one mate in the pair successfully maps to the reference genome, but the other is unmapped, the mapped mate is a singleton. One way in which a singleton could occur would be if the sample has a large insertion compared with the reference genome; one mate can fall in sequence flanking the insertion and will be mapped, but the other falls in the inserted sequence and so cannot map to the reference genome. There are unlikely to many such structural variants in the sample, or sequencing errors that would cause a read not to be able to map. Consequently, the singleton rate is expected to be very low (<1%).

Fraction of reads mapped to the forward DNA strand. The general expectation is that the DNA library preparation step will generate DNA from the forward and reverse strands in equal amounts so after mapping the reads to the reference genome, approximately 50% of them will consequently map to the forward strand. Deviations from the 50%, may be due to problems with the library preparation step.

A fragment consisting of two mates is called a proper pair if both mates map to the reference genome at the expected distance according to the reference genome. In particular, if the DNA library consists of fragments ~500 base pairs in length, and 100 base pair reads are sequenced from either end, the expectation would be that the two reads map to the reference genome separated by ~300 base pairs. If the sequenced sample contains large structural variants, e.g. a large insertion, where we expect the reads mapping with a large separation would be a signal for this variant, and the reads would not be considered as proper pairs. Based on the sequencing technology, there is also an expectation of the orientation of each read in the fragment.

The rate of proper pairs is expected to be well over 90%; even if the mapping rate itself is low as a result of bacterial contamination, for example.

PCR duplicates are two (or more) reads that originate from the same DNA fragment. When sequencing data is analyzed, it is assumed that each observation (i.e. each read) is independent; an assumption that fails in the presence of duplicate reads. Typically, algorithms look for reads that map to the same genomic coordinate, and whose mates also map to identical genomic coordinates. It is important to note that as the sequencing depth increases, more reads are sampled from the DNA library, and consequently it is increasingly likely that duplicate reads will be sampled. As a result, the true duplicate rate is not independent of the depth, and they should both be considered when looking at the duplicate rate. Additionally, as the sequencing depth in increases, it is also increasingly likely that reads will map to the same location and be marked as duplicates, even when they are not. As such, as the sequencing depth approaches and surpasses the read length, the duplicate rate starts to become less indicative of problems.