Adapterdimerer

Adapterdimerer is a term used in some contexts to describe tools, reagents, or computational approaches intended to reduce or remove adapter dimers from sequencing libraries during preparation for next-generation sequencing. The term is not standardized and does not refer to a single, universally recognized product or method.

In typical library construction, adapters can ligate to each other to form short adapter dimers that do not contain inserts. These dimers are usually too short to yield useful reads and can dominate on-sequencer clusters, thereby lowering data quality and increasing sequencing cost. Adapterdimerer approaches aim to reduce their formation or remove them after they are created.

Strategies associated with adapterdimerer include enzymatic cleanup with nucleases that degrade adapter dimers, selective size selection to exclude short fragments, optimization of ligation and purification conditions to favor DNA-insert ligation, and the use of blocking oligonucleotides or modified adapters to prevent dimer formation. In computational workflows, adapterdimerer may refer to filtering steps that identify and discard reads derived from adapter dimers.

Implementation and terminology vary; some sources emphasize chemistry- or hardware-based solutions, while others emphasize bioinformatics or library preparation workflows. Because adapterdimerer is not a single standardized concept, practitioners may encounter the term in vendor documentation, experimental protocols, or data-processing pipelines with slightly different emphases.

See also: adapter dimer, library preparation, sequencing, size selection, read filtering.