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  • Viewing external database entries for features in a sequence.

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    Chris
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    Sequences, or regions of sequences, can be linked to external databases. For example an entire sequence entry or for when annotation tools are used to annotate proteins with domain or motif information (e.g. InterProScan). Very useful for when you want to view more detailed or updated information. Within the Genbank specification, which MacVector extensively uses,…

  • Tear-off Result Window Tabs: make viewing results easier.

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    Chris
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    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 the comparison by drag-selecting…

  • Use the Edit | Transformations menu to change the case of sequence residues

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    Chris
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    Sometimes it is useful to use a mixture of cases in a sequence. You might want to flag an interesting region and have it easily identifiable in other views. You can change the case of a selected region of a sequence in MacVector using the Edit | Transformations menu. The case is maintained in all…

  • Using BLAST to automatically annotate a sequence

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    Chris
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    UPDATE: MacVector 18.8’s Auto Annotate via BLAST tool does this automatically. 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…

  • Use the BLAST Map to better identify blast hits

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    Chris
    in

    With the advent of cheap Next Generation Sequencing technologies, there has been an explosion of whole genome sequences deposited in BLAST databases. One consequence of this is that, particularly for sequences of bacterial origin, most of the significant hits are to entire genomes. The classic BLAST results show the sequence alignments, but give no indication…

  • Controlling The Automatic ORF Display in MacVector 15.5

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    Chris
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    MacVector 15.5 automatically scans every DNA sequence window for open reading frames and displays the results in the Map tab. The setting for this are controlled by the MacVector | Preferences -> DNA Map pane, along with the automatic Show restriction sites settings. The Minimum Number of Codons setting is fairly obvious. 5’ ends are…

  • Clone construction using Digest/Ligate rather than Copy/Paste

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    Chris
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    In previous post we looked at using Edit | Copy and Edit | Paste to quickly and simply create new constructs using Restriction Enzyme sites. This post will look at an alternative approach, using the Digest and Ligate buttons and the Cloning Clipboard. The sequence window Map tab has two buttons called Digest and Ligate.…

  • Simple but accurate restriction enzyme based clone construction using Copy and Paste

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    Chris
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    The quickest and simplest way to create restriction enzyme generated constructs in MacVector is to use Edit | Copy and Edit | Paste. The strategy to use is identical to copying a paragraph from one Microsoft Word document to insert into a second document. i.e. The red line around the left ends indicates that they…

  • How to change the default appearance of features

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    Chris
    in

    If you download a sequence from Entrez, or open a sequence that is not in MacVector format, MacVector assigns a default appearance to any features on the sequence. For example, CDS features are shown as a blue arrow with a Helvetica 9 point font label. With the advent of ultra high resolution displays, you may…

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

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    Chris
    in

    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…