Introduction

MARKER is a set of tools for exploring genetic markers in their genomic context. A 'genetic marker' is any point in the genome where the DNA code varies between individuals and we call it a 'marker' because this variability provides a means by which medical researchers can track down genes that determine our susceptibility to different diseases. The commonest type of genetic marker, called a single nucleotide polymorphism or SNP (pronounced 'snip'), is where just one nucleotide is affected. This beta version of MARKER deals only with SNPs, but future versions will also deal with more complex genetic markers.

The current version of MARKER displays linkage disequilibrium - the statistical relationship between nearby markers - in a simple graphical format. You can modify the graphical output, e.g. by switching between different statistical representations of linkage disequilibrium, or by changing the colour and scale of the graph. By clicking on different markers, you can navigate around a genomic region, finding out which markers have been studied in detail and what genes are nearby, and getting detailed information about both the markers and the genes through links to human genome databases.