diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/bqsr/ContextCovariate.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/bqsr/ContextCovariate.java
index e2d2a3d1f..e2663359b 100644
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/bqsr/ContextCovariate.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/bqsr/ContextCovariate.java
@@ -126,8 +126,8 @@ public class ContextCovariate implements StandardCovariate {
     private BitSet contextWith(byte[] bases, int offset, int contextSize) {
         BitSet result = null;
         if (offset - contextSize + 1 >= 0) {
-            String context = new String(Arrays.copyOfRange(bases, offset - contextSize + 1, offset + 1));
-            if (!context.contains("N"))
+            final byte[] context = Arrays.copyOfRange(bases, offset - contextSize + 1, offset + 1);
+            if (!BaseUtils.containsBase(context, BaseUtils.N))
                 result = BitSetUtils.bitSetFrom(context);
         }
         return result;
diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/BaseUtils.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/BaseUtils.java
index 61812629c..3871ca987 100644
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/BaseUtils.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/BaseUtils.java
@@ -101,6 +101,17 @@ public class BaseUtils {
         return extendedBaseToBaseIndex(base1) == extendedBaseToBaseIndex(base2);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @return true iff the bases array contains at least one instance of base
+     */
+    static public boolean containsBase(final byte[] bases, final byte base) {
+        for ( final byte b : bases ) {
+            if ( b == base )
+                return true;
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Converts a IUPAC nucleotide code to a pair of bases
      *
diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/BitSetUtils.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/BitSetUtils.java
index 6d3493211..98c901bcd 100644
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/BitSetUtils.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/BitSetUtils.java
@@ -130,32 +130,32 @@ public class BitSetUtils {
         if (number < 0)
             throw new ReviewedStingException("dna conversion cannot handle negative numbers. Possible overflow?");
 
-        int length = contextLengthFor(number);  // the length of the context (the number of combinations is memoized, so costs zero to separate this into two method calls)
-        number -= combinationsFor(length - 1);  // subtract the the number of combinations of the preceding context from the number to get to the quasi-canonical representation
+        final int length = contextLengthFor(number);  // the length of the context (the number of combinations is memoized, so costs zero to separate this into two method calls)
+        number -= combinationsFor(length - 1);        // subtract the the number of combinations of the preceding context from the number to get to the quasi-canonical representation
 
-        String dna = "";
+        StringBuilder dna = new StringBuilder();
         while (number > 0) {                    // perform a simple base_10 to base_4 conversion (quasi-canonical)
             byte base = (byte) (number % 4);
             switch (base) {
                 case 0:
-                    dna = "A" + dna;
+                    dna.append('A');
                     break;
                 case 1:
-                    dna = "C" + dna;
+                    dna.append('C');
                     break;
                 case 2:
-                    dna = "G" + dna;
+                    dna.append('G');
                     break;
                 case 3:
-                    dna = "T" + dna;
+                    dna.append('T');
                     break;
             }
             number /= 4;
         }
         for (int j = dna.length(); j < length; j++)
-            dna = "A" + dna;                    // add leading A's as necessary (due to the "quasi" canonical status, see description above)
+            dna.append('A');                          // add leading A's as necessary (due to the "quasi" canonical status, see description above)
 
-        return dna;
+        return dna.reverse().toString();              // make sure to reverse the string since we should have been pre-pending all along
     }
 
     /**
@@ -178,27 +178,18 @@ public class BitSetUtils {
      * @return the bitset representing the dna sequence
      */
     public static BitSet bitSetFrom(String dna) {
-        if (dna.length() > MAX_DNA_CONTEXT)
-            throw new ReviewedStingException(String.format("DNA Length cannot be bigger than %d. dna: %s (%d)", MAX_DNA_CONTEXT, dna, dna.length()));
+        return bitSetFrom(dna.getBytes());
+    }
 
-        long baseTen = 0;                                       // the number in base_10 that we are going to use to generate the bit set
-        long preContext = combinationsFor(dna.length() - 1);    // the sum of all combinations that preceded the length of the dna string
-        for (int i = 0; i < dna.length(); i++) {
+    public static BitSet bitSetFrom(final byte[] dna) {
+        if (dna.length > MAX_DNA_CONTEXT)
+            throw new ReviewedStingException(String.format("DNA Length cannot be bigger than %d. dna: %s (%d)", MAX_DNA_CONTEXT, dna, dna.length));
+
+        final long preContext = combinationsFor(dna.length - 1);      // the sum of all combinations that preceded the length of the dna string
+        long baseTen = 0;                                             // the number in base_10 that we are going to use to generate the bit set
+        for (final byte base : dna) {
             baseTen *= 4;
-            switch (dna.charAt(i)) {
-                case 'A':
-                    baseTen += 0;
-                    break;
-                case 'C':
-                    baseTen += 1;
-                    break;
-                case 'G':
-                    baseTen += 2;
-                    break;
-                case 'T':
-                    baseTen += 3;
-                    break;
-            }
+            baseTen += BaseUtils.simpleBaseToBaseIndex(base);
         }
         return bitSetFrom(baseTen + preContext);                // the number representing this DNA string is the base_10 representation plus all combinations that preceded this string length.
     }