WANI Dictionary

Contig

A contig is a continuous stretch of DNA or RNA sequence formed by the assembling of set of contiguous and overlapping sequences.

The term "contig" is short of "contiguous." This term is commonly used in the analysis of next generation sequencing (NGS) data.

Definitions in the literature

• Short for contiguous. Refers to a contiguous set of overlapping DNA sequences [1].
• (a) Group of cloned (copied) pieces of DNA representing overlapping regions of a particular chromosome. (b) Short for contiguous sequence. When two sequences overlap at their ends (known as a "dove-tail"). The sequences can be collapsed into a single, nonredundant sequence (NCBI) [2].