Spreadsheet-based program for alignment of overlapping DNA sequences

Molecular biology laboratories frequently face the challenge of aligning sm all overlapping DNA sequences derived from a long DNA segment. Here, we pre sent a short program that cart be used to adapt Excel(R) spreadsheets as a tool for aligning DNA sequences regardless of their orientation. The progra m runs on any Windows(R) or Macintosh(R) operating system computer with Exc el 97 or Excel 98. The program is available for use as an Excel pie, which can be downloaded from the BioTechniques Web site. Upon execution, the prog ram opens a specially designed customized workbook and is capable of identi fying overlapping regions between two sequence fragments and displaying the sequence alignment. It also performs a number of specialized functions suc h as recognition of restriction enzyme cutting sites and CpG island mapping without costly specialized software.