Embodiments in the disclosure are directed to the use of distributed computing to align reads against multiple portions of a reference dataset. Aligned portions of the reference dataset that correspond with an above-threshold alignment score can be assessed for the presence of sparse indicators that can be categorized and used to influence a determination of a state transition likelihood. Various tasks associated with the processing of reads (e.g., alignment, sparse indicator detection, and/or determination of a state transition likelihood) may be able to take advantage of parallel processing and can be distributed among the machines while considering the resource utilization of those machines. Different load-balancing mechanisms can be employed in order to achieve even resource utilization across the machines, and in some cases may involve assessing various processing characteristics that reflect a predicted resource expenditure and/or time profile for each task to be processed by a machine.