the majority of chimeras are believed to arise from incomplete extension. During subsequent cycles of PCR, a partially extended strand can bind to a template derived from a different but similar sequence. This then acts as a primer that is extended to form a chimeric sequence

Chimeric reads occur when one sequencing read aligns to two distinct portions of the genome with little or no overlap. Chimeric reads are indicative of structural variation. Chimeric reads are also called split reads.

chimera

chimeras