Quality scoring of Assemblies and Align to Reference alignments can be visualized directly on the sequence. Residues can be shaded according to their quality scores. These can be displayed anywhere quality values are available, including de novo and reference assemblies in Assembler and Align to Reference alignments. The intensity of the shading of residues indicates […]
MacVectorTip: “Nudge” Reads for Better Reference Alignments
The MacVector alignment algorithms are usually pretty good at finding the optimum alignments of reads against a reference sequence. But, very occasionally, they may get confused by repeats or other anomalies in the sequences. Or perhaps you have made after-the-alignment edits: for example, in the Align to Reference Editor, you can insert residues by holding […]
MacVectorTip: Trimming by Quality in sequence assemblies
Many of our users may be familiar with the ability of Sequencher to semi-automatically trim poor quality sequences from the ends of Sanger ABI reads. Although it is generally not necessary to do this in MacVector because most of the algorithms can automatically handle poor quality data, there are times when it can be beneficial. […]
MacVectorTip: Use self comparison matrix analysis to identify repeats and inversions
The Dot-Plot analysis (Pustell DNA Matrix) function in MacVector is an extremely powerful way of quickly getting an overview of the similarities between a pair of sequences. However, it can also be used to identify repeats and inversions in a single DNA sequence simply by comparing a sequence to itself. For example here is the […]
MacVectorTip: Advanced Align to Reference Editing
You can use the Analyze | Align to Reference function to align other sequences (Sanger chromatograms, plain sequences or even NGS data collections) against a reference. Once aligned, the Editor lets you perform all the usual editing functions using an “overwrite” mode – select the residue you want and type the new residue to replace […]
Viewing and applying individual putative heterozygotes
The heterozygote analysis tool allows you to either view heterozygotes in Sanger trace files or to permanently change the basecalled sequence with an ambiguity representing the called heterozygote. The tool works on multiple trace files in the Assembly project manager or the Align to Reference editor. You can also run it on a single trace file in the Single Trace Editor. But […]
MacVectorTip: visualizing shared domains in a protein alignment
MacVector has a domain-outlining facility for multiple sequence alignments, letting you easily visualize the relationships between features in aligned protein sequences. MacVector’s new multiple alignment file format retains the features/annotations from the sequences that are used to create the alignment. The colors of features from the individual sequence documents are used to outline the domains […]
Weekly Tip: Use Hash Value = 12 for speedy genome comparisons with Create Dot Plot
MacVector’s Analyze | Create Dot Plot function can be used to compare entire genomes very quickly to get both an overall view of similarity (large inversions and duplications) while providing the ability to “drill down” to the residue level to see individual SNPs. One of the keys to ensuring the calculations complete in a reasonable […]
MacVector 18.2 is out! …and ready for macOS Monterey
MacVector 18.2 Overview We are very pleased to announce that MacVector 18.2 is available to download. MacVector 18.2 is a Universal Binary that runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. It is fully supported on macOS Sierra (10.12) to macOS Monterey (12). New features: Align to Reference Enhancements The Align to Reference alignment algorithm […]
Compare a pair of genomes
In recent years there has been an explosion of whole-genome sequencing projects. One common question coming out of this has been to ask: “Exactly what are the genetic differences between my sequenced organism and another related strain?” MacVector to the rescue! MacVector’s Compare Genomes By Feature… tool lets you see the differences between two annotated […]