Figure 2. Resulting read length distribution (log10 scale) of nanopore sequencing of three exemplary soil samples (samples 3, 11 and 35; Supplementary file 1).

Left: Distribution of all passed (Q-score >7) reads; right: Distribution of all passed (Q-score >7) reads that map to the kākāpō reference genome using minimap2. The subset of mapped reads that have been accepted by selective sequencing (not ‘unblock’ reads; Methods) is highlighted in orange. The selective sequencing results are shown by (a) and (b) (Sample 3), (c) and (d) (Sample 11), (e) and (f) (Sample 35). The non-selective nanopore sequencing data is shown by (g) and (h) (Sample 3) and (i) and (j) (Sample 35). The selective runs result in many reads of ~500 bp length, which is the average sequencing length at which reads are long enough to be taken a decision upon and to be rejected.