SIGNAL SCAN: a computer program that scans DNA sequences for eukaryotic transcriptional elements

SIGNAL SCAN is a program that has been developed to aid the molecular biologist in determining what eukaryotic transcription factor elements (and other significant elements) may exist in a DNA sequence under investigation. The program uses flatfile databases of these elements. SIGNAL SCAN is most useful for analyzing mammalian sequences due to the prevalence of mammalian elements in the database. Elements not found in the SIGNAL SCAN database may be entered by the user. SIGNAL SCAN uses both specific sequence elements derived from biochemical characterization and elements from derived consensus sequences to match against a user input DNA sequence. While any DNA sequence element matching an element in the SIGNAL SCAN database will be reported by the program, the determination of the biological relevance of the element is left up to the investigator.