Full details of how the maps are constructed can be found in our previous article "Mapping and map interpretation - a learning experience"
Naming conventions
There have been some general changes to the maps since the last publication of the data. Possibly most important of these changes is the introduction of Synonyms for marker names, which have been introduced to accommodate marker name changes which have been requested e.g a working marker name may be given in the early stages of mapping and/or characterisation which is then changed at the time of publishing the data. In order to allow markers to be recognised by their original or published name the information about its previous name(s) is included in more detailed marker information page, along with a comment as to why/who changed the name.Additionally, some of the markers which had previously contained hyphens in their names have been renamed to contain an underscore instead, for example marker SAUR-AC1 IS THE SAME AS marker SAUR_AC1. This affects only a small number of markers and was done to aid map curation.
The maps are displayed in two different ways.
Text Version
The text display of the maps has now been improved to make the information more useful. Markers are shown to be either framework markers, to have a unique position or to have multiple positions which also shows the number of potential positions this marker may have. In interpreting the multiple positions, it should be noted that the position it is placed at is the MOST LIKELY position based upon two-point calculations of the data.All the markers are now "clickable" and will take you to detailed information about them, including the contact information which has been hard to access in the past. Full details of the calculated two-point data can also be retrieved, but this can be a large dataset and can take several minutes to download.
Graphical Version
The way the information is displayed as a GIF has changed in a way that we hope will make it easier to interpret the information. The framework markers are now drawn to the left of the central chromosome and are coloured blue. The markers which are assigned to the chromosome by linkage are displayed to the right of the central chromosome and are coloured differently to indicate the certainty of their placement. Unique placements are coloured black and markers which potentially have more than one position are coloured red. All the loci in the images are now "clickable" which will take you to more detailed information about the marker, including contact information which has been so hard to access in the past. Other details include the details of which chromosome the marker maps to, how many possible positions (of which the one shown is MOST LIKELY) the marker has, and the date when the marker was last mapped onto the large map. Full details of the two-point data can also be obtained, but be warned, this can be quite a large dataset and can take several minutes to download.