Developer: InforMax / Invitrogen / Life Technologies / Thermo Fisher Scientific (discontinued)
Supported platforms: Windows and macOS (legacy releases up to v1.6.x; officially discontinued)
Status: Officially discontinued by Thermo Fisher Scientific (sales ended December 31, 2019; technical support ended December 31, 2020).
Features
View Quality scores
Yes, within the integrated ContigExpress assembly and chromatogram editor.
View raw data
Limited to viewing electropherograms inside ContigExpress rather than dedicated raw-channel inspection.
Assembly
Yes, via the integrated ContigExpress module for assembling and proofreading Sanger .ab1 traces.
Input file formats
ABI (.ab1/.abi), GenBank, FASTA, EMBL, Swiss-Prot, and proprietary Vector NTI local/shared database formats.
Output file formats
GenBank, GenPept, FASTA, and proprietary Vector NTI archives (a standalone Vector NTI Data Export Tool was provided for migrating databases to GenBank format).
Trimming
Yes, quality and vector end trimming inside ContigExpress.
Integrated Blast
Yes (legacy built-in NCBI Entrez and BLAST queries).
Open multiple windows
Yes, across Molecule Viewer, Database Explorer, and ContigExpress.
Edit bases
Yes.
ABI limits (regions outside of clear range region are displayed in gray)
No.
Other functions
- Graphical plasmid mapping, ORF detection, and restriction analysis
- In silico cloning (restriction, Gateway, virtual gels) and PCR/sequencing primer design
- Workgroup database sharing
Cost
Formerly paid commercial software; no longer sold or supported.
Comments
Vector NTI Express consolidated the earlier Vector NTI Advance modules and restored native macOS support, making it a staple molecular-cloning and Sanger assembly suite for many years. Following its discontinuation at the end of 2019–2020, labs migrating existing databases commonly export records to GenBank format and transition to SnapGene, Geneious, CodonCode Aligner, or UGENE.
Return to the Trace Viewers overview or check trace quality online with QualTrace III Online.