Enhancement of the GBrowse Genome Annotation Browser

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Generic Model Organism Database (GMOD) software tools comprises a set of biological data management and visualization components suited for creating integrated online databases of genomic data. This proposal seeks to significantly enhance the functionality of one of the most popular of the GMOD tools, the GBrowse genome annotation browser, by giving it smooth scrolling and zooming abilities, as well as a facility for commenting on existing annotations that encourages democratic genome annotation. In recognition of the shift of biology away from the analysis of a single individual and towards the study of whole populations, we also propose to add features that make GBrowse suitable for visualizing genetic association and diversity data. These enhancements will be implemented without destroying the aspects of GBrowse that made it popular in the first place: the ability to install and run it on personal computers and other modest hardware. This proposal further seeks to encourage the take up by the community of the integrated GMOD suite. While individual components of GMOD have been taken up enthusiastically by the community and are widely used, the full suite of tools, which includes a database schema, a workflow management system, a data mining system and a template-based web site, have not achieved the same penetration due to the lack of comprehensive documentation, packaging and examples. We wish to rectify this situation by establishing a full-time support center responsible for GMOD packaging, documentation, end-user education and outreach.