= Sanger sequencing controls
{c}
The endpoint argument identifies what its <scientific controls> must interrogate. A known-template comparison tests whether preparation, copying and detection can produce an interpretable ladder. A no-template comparison tests background arising without the intended template. Agreement from an independently primed opposite-strand read tests the proposed <nucleotide sequence> through its <reverse complement>. These are distinct analytical checks; none follows merely from seeing a <gel band>.
An ambiguous ladder should retain its ambiguity. More than one band at a nominal position can reflect mixed templates or unwanted stops; a missing band can reflect failed detection rather than an absent <nucleotide>. Four clean lanes are an assumption of the ideal example. They do not establish a unique <genome>, a biological function, or the frequency of a <mutation> in a population. The historical observations below show why a control for copying chemistry matters even before interpreting the letters.
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