Setting the Numbering Origin

Preserving sequence numbering is particularly useful if you want to work on a smaller more manageable region of a large chromosome but wish to retain the original numbering. When you copy a section of a larger sequence and paste the copy into a new MacVector sequence window (or use FILE | NEW FROM CLIPBOARD), the […]

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MacVectorTip: Selecting the sequence from a single restriction enzyme site to the end of a linear sequence

To see the distance between any two points on a sequence is easy. For example select one restriction enzyme site, hold down SHIFT and select the second. The start, stop and length will be shown in the Range Selector (top right corner of every window – see images below). But if you want to see […]

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MacVectorTip: Context-sensitive Menus in MacVector

Although Apple are well known (notorious?) for always providing mice with only a single obvious button, in reality the Mac interface from early versions of MacOS all the way to macOS Big Sur, plus many Mac apps, have always used right click menus (or more accurately “context sensitive menus”) to provide extra functionality. MacVector is […]

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Use the Replica Button For Synchronized Views

Most primary MacVector windows (Nucleic Acid Sequence, Protein Sequence, Multiple Sequence Alignment, Align To Reference, Contig Assembly etc.) have a Replica toolbar button. If you click that button, a second window will open, potentially set to a different tab. The key to this functionality is that the two windows are linked – any selections you […]

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Use File->Export in the Contig Editor to save selected reads

Last week we covered the fact that you can use File->Export to save sequences or alignments in different formats. Delving down deeper into this, some of the views will save different types of data based on what you select in the format menu. The best example of this is the Contig Editor. If you choose […]

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Highlighting sequence using color and lower case in the Editor tab

You can very quickly annotate a region of interest in your sequence in the Editor tab. For example, showing introns in lower case or highlighting CDS features with a colored background. Using the TRANSFORMATIONS menu To enter sequences as mixed case. Enable Edit | Transformations | Enable Mixed Case Entry Type your sequence using SHIFT […]

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How to reset the sequence numbering when working with a subsection from a larger sequence

When you copy a section from a long sequence and paste it into a new MacVector window, the original numbering from the original sequence is retained. This is very useful if you want to work on a shorter segment of a genome without losing the original numbering. However, sometimes it is preferable to have the […]

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Quick shortcuts to zoom in and out in the Single Sequence Map tab

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 […]

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Opening matching sequences from an Align To Folder search

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 […]

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How to reset the numbering after pasting a DNA fragment

When you copy a section from a long sequence and paste it into a new MacVector window, the original numbering from the original sequence is retained. This is very useful if you want to work on a shorter segment of a genome without losing the original numbering. However, sometimes it is preferable to have the […]

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