High-performance QTL analysis via the grid (Grid QTL)

GridQTL provides web based analyses for QTL analyses in outbred populations. It expands the original platform QTL Express to 1) use distributed compouting such as the national grid and local computing clusters (ECDF) 2) expand to more advanced gentic models such as detection of epistasis and modeling of linkage and linkage disequilibrium (LDLA).

The GridQTL project provides web based analysis for studies that aim to dissect the genome for regions affecting traits of interest (so called QTL mapping). These studies are computationally intensive and over the years the studies get larger and apply more complex models. Through GridQTL we provide the software to do these analyses through a user-friendly, web interface.

We implemented novel models for epistasis and LDLA. The analyses no longer run on stand-alone machines but are distributed across a potentially very large pool of computing nodes and clusters. The project has led to more understanding of the models to detect epistasis and the experiments required to detect epistasis. GridQTL has 600 registered users of which more then 300 run analyses regularly. The platform has performed tens of CPU years worth of genetic analyses that could not have been achieved by the individual groups that use GridQTL.