Gene Codes, a bioinformatics software developer, has announced the immediate availability of a new version of Sequencher, its award-winning DNA sequence assembly and analysis program
Version 4.7 builds on the success of Sequencher 4.6, released in March 2006, by adding additional analysis capabilities to Sequencher, continuing its long established history of helping life sciences researchers work more effectively.
Expanding on the comprehensive collection of sequence analysis tools already present in Sequencher, version 4.7 further refines its DNA sequence analysis capabilities.
The Variance Table, introduced in 4.6, has been enhanced to allow editing of the data with table cells, with those changes automatically updated to the samples sequence and chromatograms, making the identification of SNPs and heterozygotes even easier.
Additional improvements include enhanced GenBank feature handling, fully updated HTML help, the ability to save projects as Templates to speed repetitive analysis, and expanded file export capabilities.
This version also represents a significant update to the forensic capabilities of Sequencher for Forensic Scientists working with mtDNA samples for victim ID and forensic casework.
Sequencher beta tester Danica Francom, from Sorenson Genomics, stated that "Sequencher 4.7 is by far the best version of Sequencher because it has a lot of flexibility.
"The new tools speed up DNA processing, which can be very time consuming.
"Since quality is paramount at Sorenson Genomics, the integration of the quality scores with the sequencing data in Sequencher is crucial.
"I have tried other software for sequence analysis, but I find that the others are not as user friendly as Sequencher.
"I feel that Sequencher 4.7 will improve the speed and quality of our sequencing".
Howard Cash, Gene Codes founder and president, said, "Many Sequencher users tell us they keep coming back because it is the fastest and easiest program of its kind to use in real-world applications.
"Gene Codes has listened to those users throughout the development of Sequencher and continue to add features and to streamline functionality to keep Sequencher the tool of choice for desktop DNA sequence assembly and analysis.
"I'm particularly pleased with the Forensic enhancements we've added to version 4.7, which is already the industry standard in forensic DNA labs doing mtDNA analysis, including the FBI and Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory."
