Randomly reduce size of reads but preserving the distribution

Question

[mhasa006]

I have a set of reads that follows this distribution

These are single-ended reads. I want to randomly trim some of the reads but maintain the overall read length distribution. One thing I can do is to reduce the size of each read by x% (let's say). That way I can guarantee the distribution will be preserved. But is it possible to have a random % trim instead of fixed x%, and maintain similar distribution?

Answer 1

[shenwei356]

reduce the size of each read by x%

Hard clip by read_length * x% ? What's the purpose?

I can guarantee the distribution will be preserved

No matter how you trim, 5' or 3', or both ends, the length distribution would remain but shift to the left.