MultiQTL's mission is developing integrative bioinformatics tools for Genome Mapping. Genome mapping is a major part of genome projects and precondition for most of the genomic applications in agriculture, biotechnology, ecology, and medicine. Any organism with economical or ecological importance is (or will soon become) a target for genome mapping efforts. Genome mapping is also a prerequisite for genome sequencing, especially for large and complex genomes. Software products of MultiQTL Ltd integrate a broad spectrum of data mining, statistical analysis, interactive visualization and modeling tools that enable building reliable physical and genetic maps and powerful quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis using advanced methods for maximum extraction of mapping information from data.
MultiQTL's software packages are user friendly, fast, and take advantage of simple and sophisticated, classical and novel, methods of mapping analysis for controlled crosses of economically important plants and animals, as well as model organisms. MultiQTL Ltd provides also genome mapping services: building dense and ultradense genetic maps, assembly of physical contigs and super-contigs of fingerprinted BAC (bacterial artificial chromosome) libraries, and QTL analysis. MultiQTL's main products include: MultiPoint software (3 sub-packages), for building genetic maps; MultiQTL package, for genetic dissection of quantitative traits; LTC package, for building physical maps. A new package, MultiPool, for QTL mapping based on selective DNA pooling, is underway. A short outline of MultiQTL's available software follows:
MultiPointis an interactive package that provides a broad spectrum of tools for genetic mapping and includes: interactive and semi-automatic building maps for thousands of markers; testing reliability of the constructed maps by using re-sampling techniques (jackknife); increasing the reliability of multilocus maps by detecting and removing markers that caused neighborhood instabilities; building ultra-high density maps using data from “genotyping-by-sequencing” platforms; conducting consensus mapping by re-analysis of multiple data sets.
MultiQTL is an integrated system for QTL analysis in controlled crosses that enables: versatile data mining and editing, single-QTL, two-linked QTL and Multiple QTL analyses; single-trait and multiple-trait analyses; QTL analysis across multiple environments; using selective genotyping design; evaluating the accuracy of the estimated parameters; comparing of alternative models (e.g., additive or dominant effects, epistasis and its components, variance effect, etc.); reporting genome-wise significant effects (FDR analysis).
LTC (linear topology contig) is a new analytical framework for physical mapping based on exploring the topology of fingerprinted BAC clone overlaps. LTC can be used for construction, verification, elongation, merging, and “curing” of the contigs. LTC proved especially competitive compared to other tools in dealing with very large high complexity genomes (like wheat and barley).
Currently, customers from 25 countries from all continents are using MultiQTL's software. The majority of users are from agricultural research and development (academia, governmental institutes, breeding and seed companies). The target organisms include field crops, trees, fishes and other aquaculture objects, and model organisms.
MultiQTL Ltd is seeking financial investments for extending its products and services and further R&D, in order to cover a wider spectrum of economically important organisms (for agriculture, biotechnology, ecology, and model organisms for biomedical research). MultiQTL Ltd is open to collaboration and partnership with Bioinformatic and Software groups and companies as well as units conducting wet genomics.
