GMAP - A MULTIPURPOSE COMPUTER-PROGRAM TO AID SYNTHETIC GENE DESIGN, CASSETTE MUTAGENESIS AND THE INTRODUCTION OF POTENTIAL RESTRICTION SITES INTO DNA-SEQUENCES

A computer program called GMAP has been developed for i) mapping the p otential restriction endonuclease (R.E.) sites that can be introduced in a nonambiguous DNA sequence; ii) predicting the mutations required to introduce unique R.E. sites in the unambiguous DNA sequences; and i ii) searching all R.E. sites in ambiguous DNA sequence obtained by rev erse translation of a given amino acid sequence. This allows the desig n of synthetic genes as well as the modular redesign after introducing limited base pair mismatches in wild-type genes in order to adapt the m for ''cassette'' mutagenesis. The GMAP program uses an algorithm bas ed on set theory that reduces the degree of complexity from no exponen tial to linear function of sequence length. Therefore, the speed of se arching for potential R.E. sites in reverse-translated gene sequences and the prediction of new R.E. sites in natural genes by mutations are rapid.