diff -Naur /Volumes/BioCocoa/BCFoundation/BCSequenceIO/BCSequenceReader.h Developer/BioCocoa/BCFoundation/BCSequenceIO/BCSequenceReader.h
--- /Volumes/BioCocoa/BCFoundation/BCSequenceIO/BCSequenceReader.h	2006-08-04 02:21:22.000000000 +0200
+++ Developer/BioCocoa/BCFoundation/BCSequenceIO/BCSequenceReader.h	2007-09-12 08:23:37.000000000 +0200
@@ -71,6 +71,26 @@
 	int			nLength;
 }GCK_HEADER;
 
+typedef  struct macvector_header
+{
+	char	seqType;		// 0: nucleic, else: protein
+	char	empty1;
+	char	empty2;
+	char	topology;		// 0: linear, else: circular
+	char	empty3;
+	char	empty4;
+	char	ntType;			// 1: RNA, else: DNA
+	char	empty5;
+	char	month;			// 1-12
+	char	day;			// 1-31
+	char	year;			// 0-255 + 1900
+	int		empty6;
+	int		nSegments;		// always 1. Total number of sequences, BTW
+	int		totalLength;	// equal to sequence length (nSegments = 1)
+	int		segNo;			// Number of segment (always 1?)
+	int		seqLength;		// this segment length
+	int		seqBytes;		// this segment length again (???)
+}MACVECTOR_HEADER;
 
 @interface BCSequenceReader : NSObject {
 
@@ -87,6 +107,7 @@
 - (BCSequenceArray *)readClustalFile:(NSString *)textFile;
 - (BCSequenceArray *)readStriderFile:(NSString *)textFile;
 - (BCSequenceArray *)readGCKFile:(NSString *)textFile;
+- (BCSequenceArray *)readMacVectorFile:(NSString *)textFile;
 - (BCSequenceArray *)readGDEFile:(NSString *)entryString;
 - (BCSequenceArray *)readPirFile:(NSString *)entryString;
 - (BCSequenceArray *)readMSFFile:(NSString *)entryString;
diff -Naur /Volumes/BioCocoa/BCFoundation/BCSequenceIO/BCSequenceReader.m Developer/BioCocoa/BCFoundation/BCSequenceIO/BCSequenceReader.m
--- /Volumes/BioCocoa/BCFoundation/BCSequenceIO/BCSequenceReader.m	2006-08-04 02:21:22.000000000 +0200
+++ Developer/BioCocoa/BCFoundation/BCSequenceIO/BCSequenceReader.m	2007-09-12 08:26:16.000000000 +0200
@@ -46,7 +46,10 @@
 	{
 		result = [self readGCKFile: filePath];
 	}
-	
+	else if([NSHFSTypeOfFile(filePath) isEqualToString: @"'PROT'"] || [NSHFSTypeOfFile(filePath) isEqualToString: @"'NUCL'"])
+	{
+		result = [self readMacVectorFile: filePath];
+	}
 	else	// TEXT file
 	{
 		NSMutableString	*sequenceFileContents;
@@ -504,6 +507,97 @@
     return result;
 }
 
+- (BCSequenceArray *)readMacVectorFile:(NSString *)textFile
+{
+	MACVECTOR_HEADER *signature;
+	
+	BCSequence		*newSequence;
+	BCSequenceArray *result;
+	NSMutableArray	*annotationsArray;
+	NSString		*alphabet;
+	unsigned char	*seqBuffer;
+	int i, s;
+	
+	NSMutableString	*sequenceString = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
+	
+	result = [[BCSequenceArray alloc] init];
+	annotationsArray = [NSMutableArray array];
+	
+	
+	NSData *data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile: textFile];
+	
+	// get header data
+	signature = malloc(sizeof(MACVECTOR_HEADER));
+	[data getBytes: signature length: sizeof(MACVECTOR_HEADER)];
+	
+	/* 
+		define the alphabet so that we can read proteins, DNA and RNA
+		I'm not sure this is the most elegant way to do things...
+		It works, anyway.
+		Bytes in MacVector files corresponds to letters in alphabet
+		The idea is to use the alphabet as an array so that 
+		when one reads, say 0x02, has just to get character at index
+		2 in the alphabet...
+	 */
+	
+	if ([NSHFSTypeOfFile(textFile) isEqualToString: @"'PROT'"])
+	{
+		// Protein
+		alphabet = @"-ACDEFGHIKLMNPQRSTVWYB*X";
+	}
+	else if (signature->ntType == 1) 
+	{
+		// RNA, there are no T's, only U's
+		alphabet = @"-ACMGRSVUWYHKDBN";
+	}
+	else 
+	{
+		// DNA
+		alphabet = @"-ACMGRSVTWYHKDBN";
+	}
+	
+	// get the length in a variable, so that we don't have to convert every time...
+	s = CFSwapInt32BigToHost(signature->seqLength);
+	
+	// read the sequence into a data object
+	NSData *seqdata = [data subdataWithRange:NSMakeRange(sizeof(MACVECTOR_HEADER),s)];
+
+	//	Now I need to read the data bytes
+	seqBuffer = malloc(s);
+	seqBuffer = [seqdata bytes];
+	for (i = 0; i < s; i++)
+	{
+		//	append each character
+		[sequenceString appendFormat:@"%c", [alphabet characterAtIndex:seqBuffer[i]]];
+	}
+
+	/* 
+		What follows is copied from the method above, readGCKFile
+		I've only commented lines that have to do with reading
+		annotations.
+	*/
+	
+	if ( [sequenceString length])
+	{
+		newSequence = [BCSequence sequenceWithString: sequenceString];
+		
+/*
+		for (i = 0; i < [annotationsArray count]; i++)
+		{
+			[newSequence addAnnotation: [annotationsArray objectAtIndex: i]];
+		}
+*/		
+		[result addSequence: newSequence];
+//		[annotationsArray removeAllObjects];
+	}
+	
+	[alphabet release]; //	should I release alphabet?
+	[sequenceString release];
+	free(signature);
+	free(seqBuffer);
+	return result;
+}
+
 
 -(BCSequenceArray *)readClustalFile:(NSString *)entryString
 {