One very useful feature of the single sequence Map tab is that you can use the mouse to “drag-select” and zoom in to view a smaller section of a large sequence. Apart from the utility of using this to “drill down” to view individual genes, or even residues, in a large sequence, if you do […]
You can use the Database->Align To Folder menu function in MacVector to quickly search any set of folders on your hard drive for matching sequences. Its like having your own personal BLAST search that just scans files of interest to you. The great thing is, when you find matching sequences, you can easily open them […]
OS X’s Finder has many features for quickly finding and working with your files. Spotlight Search is one such tool that most Mac users are familiar with. However, Smart Folders is a tool that is very useful but often overlooked. Smart Folders allow you to create a dynamic folder whose contents are derived from a […]
If you are looking for compatible cloning sites for a fragment, MacVector has a simple color-coded function to identify potential target sites in a vector. First select the fragment you wish to clone by clicking on two enzymes in the Map view of a single sequence document or from a restriction enzyme search result. Then […]
For analyzing large sequencing datasets you need Assembler. However, many times you do not need a powerful tool but just a quick way to check some sequencing data. For example for checking small sequencing projects, such as a site directed mutagenesis, looking for SNPs in a PCR product, cloning a gene or checking your latest […]
Over the past few releases of MacVector, we have changed primer testing considerably. Now all primer design and testing can be done using Quicktest Primer for a single primer and Primer Design (Primer3) for pairs of primers. If you want to test an existing pair of primers for suitability, use the following steps: Open the […]
Designing a pair of primers to amplify a single feature is pretty quick with MacVector. Select a feature in the MAP tab. Run Primer Design/Test(Pairs). Ensure the dropdown menu is set to AMPLIFY FEATURE. Click OK. Check the summary shows that primers have been found and select the spreadsheet and graphical view. Click OK.
Starting with MacVector 13 all analysis results for an individual sequence are collected into a single tabbed result window to reduce window clutter. However, there are times when it is very convenient to have results displayed in side-by-side windows. For example, if you run a dot plot you can zoom in to view sections of […]
If you work with eukaryotic genomic sequences, you will likely have encountered coding (CDS) features that are split into multiple segments, with each segment representing a translated exon of the encoded gene. MacVector is very much aware of segmented features and ensures that all in-place translations (e.g. in the main sequence Editor with CDS translations […]
MacVector displays amino acid translations in many different result windows. You can drill down to the residue level in the Map tab and see translations of CDS and other translatable features and see translations in the plain text views and the Quicktest Primer interface. The translations can be viewed as either single letter codes or […]