Responses to my posting on adopting sequence representations
other than ATCG require two clarifications:
1. Ambiguity problem
Some journals still do not require submission of sequence
data to the banks. Even when submission is required, availability
in the data banks sometimes lags behind publication. In these cases,
I run to the library and make a photocopy of the sequence.
It is on those photocopies that I have trouble telling C's from
G's. Only those with superior eyesight, superior library copy
machines or personal subscriptions to all the journals can breeze
through such sequences error free.
2. Software conversion--no problem
I am not suggesting that databases or software be changed.
ASCII codes for ACTG would still be the form that sequences are
stored and manipulated by computers. I am only suggesting that
we change how those codes are depicted on the printed page.
The only software that would be affected is software that can
read a sequence by scanning a printed page. Such software, if it
exists, does not seem to be widely used.
Peace,
Ulrich Melcher
Oklahoma State University
