Folks,
The recent chatter on alternative ways of presenting
nucleotide sequences underscores a common dissatisfaction with
the use of the first letters (Roman alphabet) of the English
names of the bases. That dissatisfaction is justified since
the use of ACTG takes up much more space than needed, since
there is a potential ambiguity between C and G on poor quality
copies of the sequence, and since computers are required to
spot patterns.
If we can all agree that ACTG is a poor choice, we should
switch to a better one. The chatter mentions a number of good
alternatives. I suspect that a change will require one or more
courageous journal editors. Are there any?
Peace,
Ulrich Melcher
