lindna draws linear maps of DNA constructs. It uses the graphical shapes ticks, ranges, and blocks to represent genetic markers (e.g, genes and ESTs) and places them according to their position in a DNA fragment. The markers can be organized in different groups. It reads an input file containing the names and positions of the genetic markers, and data for controlling the appearance of the markers (drawing commands). The output is a plot with with the linear DNA map.
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Blank lines in the input file are ignored.
The file is organized in several fields separated by one or more space or TAB characters.
The first non-blank line gives the start position of the DNA fragment to be drawn after the keyword 'Start'. The end position is on the second line following the keyword 'End'.
Then, one or more groups (up to a maximum of 20) of genetic markers are defined. Each group begins with a line consisting of the keyword 'group' and ends with a line consisting of the keyword 'endgroup'.
If desired, a group name can be given on the very next line. Spaces and tabulations are allowed but only the first 20 characters of that name (including spaces) will be displayed.
Next, the individual markers (up to a maximum of 1000) of the group are described. Each marker begins with a line consisting of the keyword 'label' and ends with a line consisting of the keyword 'endlabel'.
Do not start a new marker (by using a 'label' line) before you have closed the previous marker (by using an 'endlabel' line). You must end a previous marker specification before starting a new one. i.e. do not overlap marker specifications in the input file.
For each marker, the line following the 'label' line describes the marker. Three types of markers can be drawn: ticks, blocks, and ranges.
For a tick, the descriptive line begins with the keyword 'Tick', followed by the position of the tick in the DNA fragment, and a number from 0 to 15 specifying the color in which the tick will be drawn (a list of available colors is given below). If desired, one or more names can be written above the tick. In this case an optional letter H or V should be added to the line. H or V indicate whether the text will be horizontal or vertical, respectively. If no letter is specified, H is assumed by default. A list of one or more names can be given on the next lines with one name per line.
For a block, the descriptive line begins with the keyword 'Block', followed by the start and end positions of the block in the DNA fragment, and the number of the block's color. If desired, one or more names can be written above the block. Names are given on the following lines. An optional letter H or V can be added to the end of the descriptive line to specify the orientation of the name(s).
For a range, the descriptive line begins with the keyword 'Range', followed by the start and end positions of the range in the DNA fragment. Next on the line are the types of boundaries that are to be drawn. The user can choose among '>', '<', '[', ']' and '|' for both start and end boundaries. If none of these types is wanted for a given boundary, then a point '.' must be entered. Next is the color number. If desired, one or more names can be written above the range. Names are given on the following lines. An optional letter H or V can be added to the end of the descriptive line to specify the orientation of the name(s).
For any type of markers, names will be written in the same color as the marker. Also, try to avoid long names.
The colors defined in the PLPLOT graphics library are:
0 "BLACK", 1 "RED", 2 "YELLOW", 3 "GREEN", 4 "AQUAMARINE", 5 "PINK", 6 "WHEAT", 7 "GREY", 8 "BROWN", 9 "BLUE", 10 "BLUEVIOLET", 11 "CYAN", 12 "TURQUOISE", 13 "MAGENTA", 14 "SALMON", and 15 "WHITE".
This format can also be used for the program "cirdna".
Whether to draw a rule and the type of block-fill style must be specified. There are many other (optional) qualifiers to control the appearance of the plot which will be prompted for if the program is run with -options on the command line and.