Abstract
BACKGROUND: Amplicon re-sequencing based on the automated Sanger method remains popular for detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertion-deletion polymorphisms (InDels) for a spectrum of genetics applications. However, existing software tools for detecting intra-individual SNPs and InDels in direct amplicon sequencing of diploid samples are insufficient in analyzing single traces and their accuracy is still limited. RESULTS: We developed a novel computation tool, named DiSNPindel, to improve the detection of intra-individual SNPs and InDels in direct amplicon sequencing of a diploid. Neither reference sequence nor additional sample was required. Using two real datasets, we demonstrated the usefulness of DiSNPindel in its ability to improve largely the true SNP and InDel discovery rates and reduce largely the missed and false positive rates as compared with existing detection methods. CONCLUSIONS: The software DiSNPindel presented here provides an efficient tool for intra-individual SNP and InDel detection in diploid amplicon sequencing. It will also be useful for identification of DNA variations in expressed sequence tag (EST) re-sequencing.