Abstract Summary: MOSAIC is a set of tools for the segmentation of multiple aligned DNA sequences into homogeneous zones. The segmentation is based on the distribution of mutational events along the alignment. As an example, the analysis of one repeated sequence belonging to the subtelomeric regions of the yeast genome is presented. Availability: Free access from ftp://ftp.biomath.jussieu.fr/pub/papers/MOSAIC Contact: [email protected] * To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Motivation: The approaches usually used for building large genetic maps consist of dividing the marker set into linkage groups and provide local orders that can be tested by multi-point linkage analysis. To deal with the limitations of these approaches, a strategy taking the marker set into account globally is defined. Results: The paper presents a new approach called 'Bi-Dimensional Scaling Map (BDS-Map) for inferring marker orders and distances in genetic maps based on the use of an additional dimension orthogonal to the map into which markers are projected. Dynamical forces based on a two-point analysis are applied to tend to optimize the marker locations in space. The efficiency of the approach is exemplified on real data (16 and 70 markers on chromosomes 6 and 2, respectively) and simulated data (50 maps of 70 markers). Availability: The package called ANGE (ANalyse du GE-nome), including both the program BDS-Map and the system allowing the database management, is available on request from the authors. Contact: E-mail:[email protected]