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A gene string can be represented by an 8-character long string, with choices from 'A'
, 'C'
, 'G'
, and 'T'
.
Suppose we need to investigate a mutation from a gene string start
to a gene string end
where one mutation is defined as one single character changed in the gene string.
- For example,
"AACCGGTT" --> "AACCGGTA"
is one mutation.
There is also a gene bank bank
that records all the valid gene mutations. A gene must be in bank
to make it a valid gene string.
Given the two gene strings start
and end
and the gene bank bank
, return the minimum number of mutations needed to mutate from start to end. If there is no such a mutation, return -1
.
Note that the starting point is assumed to be valid, so it might not be included in the bank.
Example 1:
Input: start = "AACCGGTT", end = "AACCGGTA", bank = ["AACCGGTA"]
Output: 1
Example 2:
Input: start = "AACCGGTT", end = "AAACGGTA", bank = ["AACCGGTA","AACCGCTA","AAACGGTA"]
Output: 2
Example 3:
Input: start = "AAAAACCC", end = "AACCCCCC", bank = ["AAAACCCC","AAACCCCC","AACCCCCC"]
Output: 3
```
**Constraints:**
+ `start.length == 8`
+ `end.length == 8`
+ `0 <= bank.length <= 10`
+ `bank[i].length == 8`
+ `star`t, e`nd`, and `bank[i]` consist of only the characters `['A', 'C', 'G', 'T']`.