The first integrated map merged the Werner et. al. 1999 linkage map of 341 markers with an expanded RH map of 600 markers, including markers that made up the first canine RH map (Priat et al., A Whole-Genome Radiation Hybrid Map of the Dog Genome (1998), Genomics 54, 361-378). The RH and linkage maps were integrated through the duplicate typing of 217 markers positioned on both maps. This process associated virtually all the RH groups with specific canine chromosomes or linkage groups, and generated an integrated map of 724 unique markers.

Approximately two thirds of the markers are polymorphic microsatellites and one third are genes; thus the map was suitable for both linkage analysis and comparative mapping studies. The integrated map provided the means for candidate gene studies to begin for initial linkages deduced from the linkage map by selecting appropriate candidate genes from the corresponding regions of the well-developed mouse and human maps.

The map was a collaboration between

• Dr Elaine Ostrander's lab, previously at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and now at the National Institutes of Health
   
• Dr Francis Galibert's lab at the Universite Renne 1, France (Web site)
   
• Dr Donald Patterson's lab at the University of Pennsylvania

This work was published in the journal Mammalian Genome. The reference for this paper is:

Mellersh CS*, Hitte C*, Richman M, Vignaux F., Priat C., Jouquand S., Werner P., Andre C., DeRose S., Patterson D.F., Ostrander E.A. and Galibert F. (2000). An Integrated Linkage-Radiation Hybrid Map of the Canine Genome. Mammalian Genome 11 120-130