In July 2004 the Dog Genome Sequencing Consortium, led by the Broad Institute, released a 7.6X WGS assembly of the dog genome, represented by a female boxer. The breed was chosen following an analysis of 60 dog breeds that demonstrated that the boxer is one of the breeds with the least amount of variation in its genome. The dog genome is organized in 38 pairs of autosomes and a pair of sex chromosomes, X and Y.

In May 2005, the second version of the dog genome assembly (CanFam2.0) was released by the Broad Institute of MIT/Harvard and Agencourt Bioscience. This version is available for ftp download and is currently displayed in Map Viewer. Map Viewer provides graphical displays of features on the dog genome sequence assembly as well as radiation hybrid and physical maps. Map features that can be seen along the sequence include NCBI contigs (the 'Contig' map), the WGS sequences (the 'Component' map), and the location of genes, STSs, ESTs, and Gnomon predicted gene models. Extensive documentation is provided to describe the resource features and methods used, tutorials, and statistics.

You can find genes or markers of interest by submitting a query against the whole genome, or a chromosome at a time. Results are indicated both graphically, as tick marks on the ideogram, and in a tabular format. The results table includes links to a chromosome graphical view where the gene or marker can be seen in the context of additional data. For genes, a particularly useful display includes the Gene, Ab initio (i.e. the Gnomon predicted models), and estCfa (i.e. dog ESTs and mRNAs) sequence maps. You can also browse a chromosome by clicking on a chromosome link in the ideogram above. Use the "Maps & Options" window, available on individual chromosome displays, to configure your display.

The Canine 1Mb RH map (RHDF5000), a radiation hybrid map was kindly provided by Dr. Christophe Hitte from the University of Rennes, France. Each of the markers on this map has been integrated into NCBI's UniSTS resource which provides regular updates of positioning of these markers on sequences available in DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank. It is thus possible to navigate from the markers in Map Viewer to information in UniSTS and GenBank, where additional NCBI resources may be cross-referenced.

Please note that other genomes can also be viewed in the NCBI Map Viewer resource. The Map Viewer Home Page provides a current list. Consider also reviewing the resources listed on the Genomic Biology site.

Available Documentation:

• NCBI Handbook: Map Viewer chapter - resource description
• NCBI Handbook: Map Viewer Exercises - tutorials and examples
• Map Viewer Help - details about navigation and customizing your display
• Genome Assembly - description of genome assembly and annotation process
• Gnomon - description of NCBI's Hidden Markov Model (HMM) ab initio prediction program

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