Analysing Sanger sequence data

Welcome! In this tutorial we will conduct a basic analysis of some Sanger sequence data. The data comes from a PCR of two regions around the HBA1 and HBA2 genes that encode alpha-globin in three samples. This practical will walk you through basic steps in analysing them.

Prerequisites

To get started you need to download your group's data, and you'll also need some software to view the trace files and extract the sequence.

Getting the software

To view Sanger trace files, we'll use a software package called FinchTV. Start by downloading it from the FinchTV website (click on 'Download FinchTV for Windows' or 'Download FinchTV for MacOS').

After downloading, open the zip file and double-click on the FinchTV_<version> directory - you can then install FinchTV by running the installer.

Note

In case of problems, a backup copy can also be found here. Another similar program is Chromas which can also be found in that folder.

Getting the data

Some sanger sequencing data from this experiment can be found in this folder.

The data is separated into 'groups', but all groups ran the same experiment. For the purposes of this tutorial, pick a group and download the corresponding zip file by clicking in your web browser. You should now be able to open the zip file - drag the resulting folder called HBA_practical_group_[n] to your desktop.

You're ready to start - now go and view the files.