MtDNAmap: Geographic representation of mtDNA Haplogroups

Abstract

Mitochondrial DNA is inherited maternally and is thought to be evolved stepwise from one population to another population in the history of mankind. Haplogroup for any mtDNA provides us a solution for the logical classification of the mitochondrial DNA based on established phylogenetic principles. There is a huge amount of scattered mtDNA sequence data from different global and regional populations. It demands a professional platform for representation of data to draw meaningful and simple-to-understand information about mtDNA distribution. Here, mtDNAmap provides geographical representation of mtDNA haplogroups’ frequencies in various populations all over the world according to their present day reported locations. It is a haplogroup frequency database of different populations calculated from the published data using their reported valid mtDNA sequences. Publicly available MtDNA sequences, processed through mtDNAprofiler for SNP determinations based on revised Cambridge Reference Sequence and followed by Haplogrep 2.0 for the determination of the haplogroups on the basis of most updated Phylotree version-17, are graphically represented on the dynamic map in the form of frequencies. mtDNAmap provides the open access to the whole or part of published high-quality curated data. The tool is not only useful for researchers from forensic and anthropology backgrounds but also in general public.