Figure 1

Overview of the proposed workflow. The process starts in the upper right corner. Design: Information from several sources is integrated into the vector NTI data set, which then superimposes all relevant information on the gene's sequence and includes all information regarding positions of primers and PCR fragments. Screening: Every signal derived from the Ecotilling screening is checked in Vector NTI for already known features at that position. The sequencing primers can easily be chosen for confirmation of so far unknown signals. Interpretation: Once the exact identity of a signal is known, the variation is checked for potential functional relevance using appropriate bioinformatic tools. Any new variation is annotated in Vector NTI and therefore directly taken into account when analyzing the next Ecotilling run.