Being able to remove a restriction site by digesting with an enzyme that cuts at one site to linearize a plasmid, Klenow treating the linear fragment, then religating the fragment, is a useful trick in the lab. It can help you produce a suitable, and simple, cloning site when none previously existed in your vector. […]
So you’ve finally go the graphics for that new construct looking absolutely fabulous in MacVector and you want to get it into an image editing program (e.g. Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or even PowerPoint) ready for that critical presentation. How best to do it? The easiest way, by far, is to simply choose Edit->Copy to copy […]
MacVector has a large collection of data files that are installed in folders alongside the MacVector application. These include Restriction Enzymes files, Scoring Matrices, documentation, tutorials, a variety of common cloning vectors and even a few useful Applescripts. If you use MacVector’s built-in automatic updater to install each new release and bug-fix, you will find […]
You can use the Database->Auto-Annotate Sequence function to quickly annotate a bare sequence using existing annotated sequences on your file system. However, this only works if your collection of sequences contains features representing all parts of the bare sequence. Luckily, if you have an unannotated region after running Auto-Annotate, you can use MacVector’s built-in BLAST […]
The Automatic Restriction Enzyme Analysis tool that is displayed on the sequence in the Map tab is very powerful. It automatically displays a custom set of restriction enzyme recognition sites on every sequence that you open. Unique recognition sites are displayed in red and sites with two or more cut locations are displayed in blue. […]
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 […]