Abstract
Background Despite the advent of Next Generation Sequencing technology and its widespread applications, Sanger sequencing remains instrumental for molecular biology subcloning work in biological and medical research and indispensable for drug discovery campaigns. Although Sanger sequencing technology has been long established, existing software for processing and visualization of trace file chromatograms are limited in terms of functionality, scalability, and availability for commercial use.
Results To fill this gap, we developed TraceTrack, an open-source web application tool for batch alignment, analysis and visualization of Sanger trace files. TraceTrack offers high throughput matching of trace files to reference sequences, rapid identification of mutations and an intuitive chromatogram analysis. Comparative analysis between TraceTrack and existing software tools highlights the advantages of TraceTrack with regards to batch processing, visualization and export functionalities. TraceTrack is available at https://github.com/Merck/TraceTrack and also at https://tracetrack.dichlab.org as a web application.
Conclusion TraceTrack is a web application for batch processing and visualization of Sanger trace file chromatograms that meets the increasing demand of industrial sequence validation workflows in pharmaceutical settings.
Competing Interest Statement
All authors that are/were employees of Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA and may hold stocks and/or stock options in Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA.
List of Abbreviations
- MSA
- Multiple sequence alignment
- NGS
- Next generation sequencing
- STR
- Short tandem repeat
