101 things you (maybe) didn’t know about MacVector: #9 – Showing Translations In The DNA Sequence Editor

If you have used MacVector for many years, you’ll remember the days when the single sequence editor was THE main way you interacted with MacVector. When MacVector 10 was introduced back in 2007, the Editor became just one tab in the single sequence window along with Map, Features and Annotations tabs, all of which at one time were separate windows. What you may not realize is that there have been a number of improvements made to the Editor over the intervening years, one of which is the ability to display amino acid translations above and below the DNA sequence;

pBR322TetTranslation.png

There are a number of different options for displaying the translation – all are accessed via the Strands toolbar button. If you click on this and hold the mouse button down, a popup menu will appear and you can toggle each menu item;

StrandsButtonAnimated.gif

The menu options are;

Show CDS Translations – this shows the translations for any CDS features that are present in the sequence. “CDS” features are the standard GenBank features describing the start and stop location of translated open reading frames on an annotated sequence.

Show Complementary Strand – this is the classic MacVector option to display the complementary nucleic acid strand.

Show Plus Strand Translations – this shows the +1, +2 and +3 strand translations above the sequence.

Show Minus Strand Translations – this shows the -1, -2 and -3 strand translations below the sequence.

All of the translations are dynamic, i.e. they update in real time as you type. The translations key off the currently selected genetic code, usually the Universal code, but yo can change it using the Options | Modify Genetic Codes menu item.

This is an article in a long running series of tips to help you get the most out of MacVector. If you want to get notified every time a new tip gets published, follow us @MacVector on twitter (or check the feed for the hashtag #101MacVectorTips) or like us on Facebook.

This entry was posted in 101 Tips and tagged . Bookmark the permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.