March 15, 2016 (Vol. 36, No. 6)
URL:
http://bbcftools.epfl.ch/getprime
Rating:
Strong Points: Easy to search
Weak Points: No user instructions on site (only primary publication)
Summary:
Most genes undergo alternative splicing (yielding transcripts with slightly altered nucleotide sequences), creating a challenge for researchers trying to study the expression patterns of specific isoforms using analyses like quantitative polymerase chain reaction. GETPrime is an online tool created by the Laboratory of Systems Biology and Genetics at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne that does the hard work of designing quality gene- or transcript-specific qPCR primers for you. The result is a database of experimentally verified primer pairs that is searchable by identifiers, such as gene name. Users can restrict the search to primers for one species from among the 13 available model organisms. The site displays primer sequences and their melting temperatures, and the presence of SNPs within the primers is noted. From the displayed results, website visitors can select individual entries to be taken to the Ensembl page for the corresponding gene.
