Bandage is an application designed to help scientists visualize de novo assembly graphs, perform assessments, identify potential issues, reposition and reshape nodes, add annotations and extract sequences.

Once a file has been imported, you can specify if you want to application to draw the entire graph or just a certain section. When working with very large datasets, reducing the graph scope is advisable.

Bandage can be used to load assembly graphs saved in various formats: LastGraph, FASTG, fasta or GFA.

After drawing the graph, you can navigate to any section easily, with the help of your mouse or keyboard controls. Notes can be repositioned by dragging them with your mouse, and you can even select multiple objects and move them all at once.

You can also search for specific nodes and assign labels to identify them more easily in the future.

Bandage can display each node’s name, length, read depth, BLAST hits, and the corresponding data imported from a CSV file.

Selected note sequences can be copied to the clipboard or saved to a separate graph, and you can also take a snapshot of the current view or the entire scene.

It goes without saying that Bandage is an application with a specialized user base, so it is to be expected that a certain degree of technical knowledge is required to make the most of its functions.

Fortunately, it comes with extensive documentation and in-app instructions, so even those who have little experience with such tools should be able to figure things out easily enough.

If you are in the market for an easy-to-use application that can help you view and analyze de novo assembly graphs, Bandage certainly fits the bill.