Using Excel Table Editor to Analyze Aligned Nucleotide Sequences

摘要

The Excel platform has been used to convert the results of a multiple alignment of nucleotide sequences obtained by BLAST network service into a form more convenient for visual analysis and subsequent analytical work. For this purpose, two macros were written in an MS Excel 2007 macro environment. An array of aligned sequences converted into an Excel spreadsheet and processed by macros is much more convenient to work with than its original version as an HTML page. Currently, in molecular biology, databases have reached enormous proportions. Data arrays obtained from them in response to queries have also become large and complicated for manual processing. In this regard, the importance of secondary tools that allow on to change the view of the data received from the network service in a form more convenient for further analysis and to conduct its primary processing in accordance with the objectives of the study. The Microsoft Excel table editor may be used as one of these tools, as it has powerful instruments for filtering, sorting, and word processing, as well as the possibility of using formulas and macros. Using macros, one may solve rather varied and complex tasks. For example, Excel was used for the selection of molecular beacon probes with the best performance [2], data analysis of restriction polymorphism [3], and processing of samples of nucleotide sequences (NSs) of bacteria [1]. In this study, we used the Excel platform to convert the results of a multiple alignment of NSs obtained using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST, http://www.ncbi.nml.nih.gov/blast/) network service into a form more convenient for the visual analysis and subsequent analytical work.