ECORC, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Building #50, C.E. Farm, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0C6
New molecular technologies have expanded the possibilities for developing and applying linkage maps. Many research programs are now in "advanced generations" of map development. Reference maps from primary populations are continually improved, but partial maps are now being transferred into new populations to identify new genes and quantitative trait loci. New "mini-maps" are often created as spin-offs from marker assisted selection or QTL validation projects. Collaboration among research groups has led to the development of good consensus maps in many crop species. However, mapping presents special challenges for data management: (1) new data flows continuously, but updating maps can be slow and laborious; (2) a researcher needs rapid access to a well-organized marker database; (3) merging of maps within and between species is not always linear, so the cartographer needs a simple way to build and follow multi-dimensional links among maps. Multiple Molecular Marker Map Manager ("Mmmmm", or "M5") is a Windows9X-based computer program that integrates map data from a variety of sources into a simple hypertext (HTML) format that can be browsed with a program such as "Netscape" or "Internet Explorer". These "map pages" can be browsed locally or transferred to an internet host for access by external collaborators. By configuring M5 to look for a specific set of input files, a set of maps can be updated frequently and rapidly by a person with limited computer skills. This software can be downloaded from the internet site: http://res.agr.ca/prc/m5/
Plant & Animal Genome VII Conference Plant & Animal Genome VII Conference