Merging fastq files paird end

Question

[zizigolu]

Hello

I have bulk RNA-seq paird end fastq files from 2 samples

But for each sample I have 2 rounds of sequencing to give greater read depth

I want to merge these samples

Is this safe to

cat fastq1_i7 fastq1_i8

and cat fastq2_i7 fastq2_i8

Thank you for any help

Answer 1

[GenoMax]

Yes it should be safe to merge the two files for each sample as long as fastq1 = R1 and fastq2 = R2 reads.

[zizigolu]

Thank you

Is it true for multiple samples?

[GenoMax]

Valid only for technical sequencing replicates of one sample.