what is Kmer coverage

Question

[vm.higareda]

I have been reading about kmer coverage value produced by DNA assemblers such as SPAdes or velvet, however I have not understand this concept.

If i have the following SPAdes header:

NODE_3_length_237403_cov_243.207

cov=243, mean that 243 reads that were used to reconstruct the NODE3 contig have the exact sequence of the kmer?

Answer 1

[Buffo]

No, that coverage means kmer-coverage. If you need the RDC, you have to map your reads against the assembly and calculate it.

[vm.higareda]

How I can interpretate kmer coverage, what cov=243 mean?