<p>A gene string can be represented by an 8-character long string, with choices from <code>&#39;A&#39;</code>, <code>&#39;C&#39;</code>, <code>&#39;G&#39;</code>, and <code>&#39;T&#39;</code>.</p>

<p>Suppose we need to investigate a mutation from a gene string <code>startGene</code> to a gene string <code>endGene</code> where one mutation is defined as one single character changed in the gene string.</p>

<ul>
	<li>For example, <code>&quot;AACCGGTT&quot; --&gt; &quot;AACCGGTA&quot;</code> is one mutation.</li>
</ul>

<p>There is also a gene bank <code>bank</code> that records all the valid gene mutations. A gene must be in <code>bank</code> to make it a valid gene string.</p>

<p>Given the two gene strings <code>startGene</code> and <code>endGene</code> and the gene bank <code>bank</code>, return <em>the minimum number of mutations needed to mutate from </em><code>startGene</code><em> to </em><code>endGene</code>. If there is no such a mutation, return <code>-1</code>.</p>

<p>Note that the starting point is assumed to be valid, so it might not be included in the bank.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong class="example">Example 1:</strong></p>

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> startGene = &quot;AACCGGTT&quot;, endGene = &quot;AACCGGTA&quot;, bank = [&quot;AACCGGTA&quot;]
<strong>Output:</strong> 1
</pre>

<p><strong class="example">Example 2:</strong></p>

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> startGene = &quot;AACCGGTT&quot;, endGene = &quot;AAACGGTA&quot;, bank = [&quot;AACCGGTA&quot;,&quot;AACCGCTA&quot;,&quot;AAACGGTA&quot;]
<strong>Output:</strong> 2
</pre>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Constraints:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li><code>0 &lt;= bank.length &lt;= 10</code></li>
	<li><code>startGene.length == endGene.length == bank[i].length == 8</code></li>
	<li><code>startGene</code>, <code>endGene</code>, and <code>bank[i]</code> consist of only the characters <code>[&#39;A&#39;, &#39;C&#39;, &#39;G&#39;, &#39;T&#39;]</code>.</li>
</ul>

class Solution:
    def minMutation(self, startGene: str, endGene: str, bank: List[str]) -> int:
        
        root = startGene
        dq = deque()
        dq.append((root, 0))
        bank = set(bank)

        while len(dq) > 0:
            gene, depth = dq.popleft()

            for idx, c in enumerate(gene):
                for cp in (x for x in 'ACGT' if x != c):
                    new_gene = gene[:idx] + cp + gene[idx+1:]
                    if new_gene not in bank:
                        continue

                    if new_gene == endGene:
                        return depth + 1

                    bank.remove(new_gene)
                    dq.append((new_gene, depth + 1))

        return -1


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