when strand is not + or -

Question

[markddesimone]

Hi, I have a file of junction reads produced by bedtools I believe.

e.g. here is a snippet:

1   324328  324519  JUNC00000042    1   +   324328  324519  255,0,0 2   17,81   0,110
1   326868  327065  JUNC00000045    1   +   326868  327065  255,0,0 2   70,30   0,167
1   565176  565442  JUNC00000046    11  +   565176  565442  255,0,0 2   98,28   0,238
1   565570  568519  JUNC00000047    8   .   565570  568519  255,0,0 2   95,26   0,2923
1   567847  568046  JUNC00000048    1   .   567847  568046  255,0,0 2   72,26   0,173
1   568499  569824  JUNC00000049    1   .   568499  569824  255,0,0 2   29,69   0,1256
1   569366  569707  JUNC00000050    76  .   569366  569707  255,0,0 2   98,68   0,273
1   569941  570218  JUNC00000051    1   .   569941  570218  255,0,0 2   23,76   0,201
1   569997  570176  JUNC00000052    1   .   569997  570176  255,0,0 2   61,36   0,143
1   665140  665616  JUNC00000053    1   -   665140  665616  255,0,0 2   44,54   0,422
1   665140  669025  JUNC00000054    1   -   665140  669025  255,0,0 2   44,54   0,3831
1   665140  672431  JUNC00000055    1   -   665140  672431  255,0,0 2   44,54   0,7237
1   665686  667421  JUNC00000056    2   -   665686  667421  255,0,0 2   73,25   0,1710

I'm wondering about the meaning of strand being a dot rather than + or -. I read here: How does a read, which is complementary to the reference genome, map to the reference? that a dot means a match to the + strand, a comma is the same for the reverse complement. 

I have not found any strand labeled as comma...

I would like confirmation that I should treat these lines the same as if they had a + for the strand, also any explanation what the dot actually signifies and why a dot is output rather than a +

Thank you