TREECON for Windows !!!
TREECON is a software package developed primarily for the
construction and drawing of evolutionary trees based on
distance data calculated from nucleic and amino acid sequences
(Van de Peer & De Wachter, CABIOS 9, 177-182 (1993)). It
implements several equations for converting dissimilarity
(fraction of substitutions) into evolutionary distance and
several algorithms for inferring tree topologies, such as
neighbor-joining. Bootstrap analysis on sequence data is also
included. The program, which was written to run under the DOS
operating system has now been adapted for the Microsoft
WindowsTM environment.
TREECON for Windows has a standard MS-Windows interface
including pulldown and pop-up menus, dialog boxes and
scrollable lists. The program runs on IBM-compatible computers
(80386 and higher) and requires the Microsoft WindowsTM 3.1
operating system, a hard disk and a mouse. The software
package consists of several executables which are managed
through a principal menu. As dynamic memory allocation is used
throughout the program, the size of the data is constrained
only by the available memory.
The main advantages of TREECON for Windows over the DOS version
of the program consist in device-independence, the multitasking
environment, and the possibility of displaying large trees
containing hundreds of sequences. Furthermore, due to the
standard Windows interface, the software package becomes more
user-friendly. Also, new features have been included, like
WYSIWYG printing of trees, the conversion of different file
types and the creation of graphics files for editing by other
software. The user can select different colours and different
fonts for species names and bootstrap values. Furthermore, a
selected number of species can be put in a different font and
clusters of species can be represented as triangles.
A fee is asked to defray the costs of producing the user manual
and diskettes, and the mailing expenses. This fee includes
updates and new releases of the package. Users who are
registered will be informed about improvements and new
releases. Please contact me at the following address if you
need more information or if you want to order the TREECON
package:
Yves Van de Peer
Department of Biochemistry
University of Antwerp (UIA)
Universiteitsplein 1
B-2610 Antwerpen
BELGIUM
email: yvdp at reks.uia.ac.be
FAX: 32-3-820.22.48
