Introducing Linkage Map View: An Open Source Tool to Produce Visually Superior Maps in R

Linkage maps and quantitative trait loci (QTL) maps have been used for many years to study the genetic basis for complex traits. QTL identification supports marker assisted selection in breeding programs. LinkageMapView, is a free, open source R package (R Core Team (2016)) that provides a way to visualize maps and QTL regions. LinkageMapView produces high resolution, publication ready linkage maps and/or QTL maps. While there is software available to produce linkage map graphics, none are available in R that produce publication quality map graphics, are open source and can run across all platforms. R packages such as R/qtl (Broman et al., 2003) can be seamlessly integrated with LinkageMapView to go from genotype and phenotype data collection directly to map and QTL visualization.