Figure 1

The Kraken sequence classification algorithm. To classify a sequence, each k-mer in the sequence is mapped to the lowest common ancestor (LCA) of the genomes that contain that k-mer in a database. The taxa associated with the sequence’s k-mers, as well as the taxa’s ancestors, form a pruned subtree of the general taxonomy tree, which is used for classification. In the classification tree, each node has a weight equal to the number of k-mers in the sequence associated with the node’s taxon. Each root-to-leaf (RTL) path in the classification tree is scored by adding all weights in the path, and the maximal RTL path in the classification tree is the classification path (nodes highlighted in yellow). The leaf of this classification path (the orange, leftmost leaf in the classification tree) is the classification used for the query sequence.