An improved FORTRAN 77 recombinant DNA database management system with graphic extensions in GKS

We have improved an existing clone database management system written in FORTRAN 77 and adapted it to our software environment. Improvements are that the database can be interrogated for any type of information, not just keywords. Also, recombinant DNA constructions can be represented in a simplified ‘shorthand’, whereafter a program assembles the full nucleotide sequence from the contributing fragments, which may be obtained from nucleotide sequence databases. Another improvement is the replacement of the database manager by programs, running in batch to maintain the databank and verify its consistency automatically. Finally, graphic extensions are written in Graphical Kernel System, to draw linear and circular restriction maps of recombinants. Besides restriction sites, recombinant features can be presented from the feature lines of recombinant database entries, or from the feature tables of nucleotide databases. The clone database management system is fully integrated into the sequence analysis software package from the Pasteur Institute, Paris, and is made accessible through the same menu. As a result, recombinant DNA sequences can directly be analysed by the sequence analysis programs.