In article <1995Nov3.042148.68262 at rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu>,
ajotsuka at rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Anthony Otsuka) wrote:
>.....
> Part of the reason I responded is that I would like to know if
> anyone has had any luck with the BandScanner software to read gels
> scanned with flatbed scanner. We find that the software is
> (in our hands) pretty much useless as it picks up too many faint
> background bands, and the resulting data needs to edited heavily.
> The other software, MacVector and AssemblyLign, works pretty good.
>......
We purchased the BandScanner software at the beginning of this year and
have had mixed fortunes. In its favour, this Software is one of the less
expensive alternatives currently available and used in combination with
Assemblylign it is an improvement on manual entry of gels. In particular
the ability to locate and view conflicting base positions quite quickly is
obviously a big advantage. HOWEVER, the technical support from IBI is just
about non-existent, and Anthony Otsuka is right to say that the sequences
sometimes need a lot of editing. I have found the same problem that he
reports - too many background bands - but I think with experience it's
possible to overcome this problem without too much difficulty. I should
add though that we are accumulating data from large numbers of homologous
sequences and insertions/deletions are very conspicuous when we come add
sequences to our existing alignments. Therefore I am confident that after
a relatively small amount of editing it's possible to get very accurate
sequences. If you were to use this software for sequencing long clones of
undetermined homology you would have to sequence both strands completely
and have lots of long overlaps in order to get accurate sequences.
--
Paul Flook
Zoologisches Institut
Rheinsprung 9
Basel CH-4051
Switzerland
Tel. : (+41) 061 267 3496
Fax. : (+41) 061 267 3457
Email : Flook at UBACLU.UNIBAS.CH
