Using k-mers for rapid quality control of sequencing data without alignment

A method for evaluating nucleic acid sequencing data using a quality control analysis system, comprising:

• receiving, by the quality control analysis system, a plurality of reads of a nucleic acid sequence;
• extracting, by a processor of the quality control analysis system, a plurality of k-mers from the plurality of reads;
• identifying, using the plurality of extracted k-mers, one or more of a plurality of annotated k-mers found in the plurality of reads, wherein the plurality of annotated k-mers are generated from one or more nucleic acid sequences and stored in an annotation database of the quality control analysis system, and further wherein the annotated k-mers are annotated with annotation information about the one or more nucleic acid sequences from which the annotated k-mers are generated;
• gathering, based on the identified annotated k-mers found in the plurality of reads, annotation information about the plurality of reads;
• and
• determining, based on the gathered annotation information, a quality control metric for at least some of the plurality of reads.