BioMercator

Introduction

BioMercator V4 is a genetic map compilation and QTL meta-analysis software providing tools to integrate these data with genome structural and functional annotation. It offers wizards to run analyses and display input and output maps through a user friendly graphical user interface (GUI). In addition to map compilation and meta-analysis methods available in previous BioMercator version, this new release includes algorithms from the MetaQTL package (http://www.bioinformatics.org/mqtl/wiki/).

The GUI has evolved, and now offers new ways of zooming. A cascading zoom allows to progressively enlarge a region of a map while conserving alongside the whole chromosome representation. It is now possible to use the zoom from the whole map representation to focus on zones of interest of several chromosomes. Image can be exported in various format including SVG for subsequent image editing in third-party software.

BioMercator V4 also implements a new file loading wizard capable of reading an unlimited number of files and automatically recognize their format.

The possibility of using MetaQTL’s package algorithms directly inside BioMercator V4 came with a file format evolution ; to use fully those algorithms, more data will be required than in the previous BioMercator version.

The user will be able to export maps and analyses in a format compliant for submission to the URGI databases (GnpIS).