International Mammalian Genome Society

B8 Map Manager QTX: Cross-Platform Software for Mapping Quantitative Trait Loci

Kenneth F. Manly. Molecular and Cellular Biology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY 14263-0001

Map Manager QTX, the fourth program in the Map Manager family, analyzes the results of experimental genetic crosses to map Mendelian and quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Like Map Manager QT¹, it offers a rich graphic user interface, but it is available in versions for both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS operating systems. Its functions for mapping Mendelian markers include rapid automatic methods for separating newly typed loci into linkage groups and for distributing newly typed loci among previously defined linkage groups. Like Map Manager QT, it uses regression methods to map QTLs, but it supports more types of crosses than the former. In particular, it analyzes advanced intercrosses and backcrosses, markers with dominant alleles, and crosses which mix markers with dominant and codominant alleles. For these types of crosses, it identifies QTLs by association with single marker loci, by simple interval mapping, and by composite interval mapping. Map Manager QTX allows the user to define subsets of loci and subsets of progeny individuals and to analyze these subsets separately. Map Manager QTX will open data files from all previous members of the Map Manager family, and files for the Windows and Mac OS versions can be opened by either version. Map Manager QTX will import and export Mapmaker and Mapmaker/QTL files and it will export data in a format suitable for QTL Cartographer². Map Manager QTX and its documentation will be available from the Map Manager Web Site.

¹Manly KF, Olson JM (1999) Overview of QTL mapping software and introduction to Map Manager QT. Mammalian Genome 10: 327-334

²Basten, C.J., Weir, B.S., Zeng, Z.-B. (1994) Zmap--a QTL cartographer. In: C. Smith, J. S. Gavora, B. Benkel, J. Chesnais, W. Fairfull, J. P. Gibson, B. W. Kennedy and E. B. Burnside (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production: Computing Strategies and Software, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. ftp://statgen.ncsu.edu/pub/qtlcart/README