BMC Genomics 2006, 7:283 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/7/283 Authors' contributions OJ screened the RH panel, analysed RH data, constructed chromosome maps, performed map and sequence com- parisons and drafted the manuscript. JA aligned sequences against the bovine assembly, designed the BovGen RH database and adapted the visualisation of the results. NH performed data analysis. SMK screened the RH panel, per- formed data analysis and constructed chromosome maps. MJ, EM, AP, JY, SF, LS, MFM, CM and MCS performed screening of the RH panel. AL created associated web based resources. AE performed data analysis and inte- grated RH and BAC data. PAM, RN, CG and EM produced AFLP and EST data on the RH panel and constructed chro- mosome maps. AV performed primer design. MJA, RH and SH sequenced the set of ESTs, managed EST sequences and performed sequence analysis. CG screened the RH panel for AFLP markers. CD, EEC and TSS devel- oped EST markers and screened the RH panel. SM pro- vided the loci mapped and oversaw the genotyping and data analysis at the University of Alberta. TSM provided primers and linked EST sequences to locus names. JLW provided the RH panel, initiated the project and was responsible for the overall design of the study, oversaw the work, performed 2-pt and some multipoint analysis, managed RH data and contributed to drafting and editing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Additional material 2005 map. Click here for file 2164-7-283-S1.xls] Additional File 2 Additional File 1 Matrix of common markers of the BovGen RH map with the ILTX 2005 map. Chromosomes on the BovGen RH map (vertical) and the ILTX 2005 map (horizontal) are indicated in bold. Numbers indicate the number of common markers between the BovGen RH map and the ILTX 2005 map. Numbers in the diagonals are the number of markers assigned to the same chromosomes. Numbers out of the diagonal are markers assigned to different chromosomes in the BovGen RH map and the ILTX [http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/supplementary/1471- Matrix of common markers of the BovGen RH map with the MARC 2004 linkage map. Chromosomes on the BovGen RH map (vertical) and the MARC 2004 linkage map (horizontal) are indicated in bold. Num- bers indicate the number of common markers between the BovGen RH map and the MARC 2004 linkage map. Numbers in the diagonals are the number of markers assigned to the same chromosomes. Numbers out of the diagonal are markers assigned to different chromosomes in the BovGen RH map and MARC 2004 linkage map. Click here for file [http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/supplementary/1471- 2164-7-283-S2.xls] Additional File 3 Matrix of common markers of the BovGen RH map with the Btau_2.0 sequence. Chromosomes on the BovGen RH map (vertical) and Btau_2.0 sequence assembly (horizontal) are indicated in bold. Numbers indicate the number of common markers between the BovGen RH map and the Btau_2.0 sequence assembly. Numbers in the diagonals are the number of markers assigned to the same chromosomes. Numbers out of the diago- nal are markers assigned to different chromosomes in the BovGen RH map and the Btau_2.0 sequence assembly. Click here for file [http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/supplementary/1471- 2164-7-283-S3.xls] Additional File 4 BovGen RH vectors. The first column indicates the marker name, the sec- ond column indicates the assigned chromosome and the third column gives RH vectors used for map construction. The vectors give screening results for each the used 94 cell lines for the Roslin RH panel. "0" indi- cates that the fragment is not present in the cell line, "1" indicates pres- ence of the fragment in the cell line, and "2" indicates ambiguous results. Click here for file [http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/supplementary/1471- 2164-7-283-S4.xls] Acknowledgements This work was funded by the European Community (BovGen QLRT-CT- 2002-02744 project) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBS/B13454). Contributions by the University of Alberta were supported through Grant Number 2003A245R awarded to S.S. Moore by the Alberta Agriculture Research Institute. The authors thank Sandra Nejezchleb for technical assistance and John W. Keele and Gregory P. Harhay for the help to annotate primers designed previously at MARC. References 1. 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