January 15, 2007 (Vol. 27, No. 2)
URL:
http://bibiserv.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/genefisher
Rating:
Strong Points: Primer design
Weak Points: Non-alterable parameters
Summary:
GeneFisher—fishing for genes, perhaps? Fishing genes out of genomes? Just fishing? The subtitle, Interactive PCR Primer Design, “hooked me” (get it?) but it shouldn’t have in retrospect. After all, isn’t all PCR design interactive? Nevertheless, digging deeper, I discovered a site with basic functions for identifying PCR primers. Users enter an email address, a name for the analysis, and a sequence. If you need to change the analyses performed, such as primer length, melting temperature, clamping, etc., you’ll wonder how to control these variables, as I did. The on-line manual refers to them, but there appeared to be no way to manipulate these on the opening page or through the two or three links shown. If you’re looking for bells and whistles, this isn’t the place to find them. If you want basic primer design, though, this is worth a shot.
