mlst.net

Initially, the map shows a zoomed out view of the earth. You can 'left click' and drag the map around, zoom in or out using the scale bar on the left hand side of the maps or change the terrain view using the buttons at the top right of the map - (You can have a try using the map on the left!)

When viewing an organism specific multilocus sequence typing (MLST) database using Google Maps the initial view shows a placemark for every country from which an isolate has been deposited in the public database.

The colour of the placemark denotes the percentage of the total number of isolates in the database found in that country.
The key on the right hand side of the page shows the percentage boundaries and each can be clicked on and off to explore the distribution of isolates. (For example clicking off the 0-10% placemark will give an indication of where the greater numbers of isolates are found).

When clicking on a country placemark, an 'info window' opens showing the country, the number of isolates found in that country and a link inviting you to 'click to view STs' (Sequence Types).

After clicking the 'Click to view STs' link the map will centre and zoom in on the country you have chosen and a data loading icon appears in the bottom right of the screen indicating that the ST data is loading.

When complete this icon will disappear and the 'Sequence Type summary' will appear below the map.

When viewing the global distribution of a particular ST, each country where an isolate has been deposited in the organism specific MLST database will have a placemark like that to the left.
The number within the placemark indicates the number of isolates with that ST deposited from that country.
A summary of all the countries where a particular ST is found can be viewed on the right hand side of the map.

The BURST algorithm first identifies mutually exclusive groups of related genotypes in a population (typically a multilocus sequence typing [MLST] database), and attempts to identify the founding genotype (sequence type or ST) of each group. - Full instructions for the use of eBURST can be found at http://eburst.mlst.net

To use eBURST you must have the latest version of JAVA installed - please click here to check

From the Sequence Type Summary you can also view data using eBURST in two ways.

• View eBURST pre-loaded with only the isolate STs found in the country you have chosen.
  

• View Comparative eBURST comparing the isolate STs in the country you have chosen to all other isolates in the MLST database. This allows you to view STs that are only found in the country you have chosen, STs found in the country you have chosen and elsewhere and also STs that are only found outside of the country you have chosen.
  

Clicking the links will open eBURST - Please note eBURST can take a while to open and load the data.

• Click on the 'Analysis' tab at the top of the eBURST window.
• At the bottom left of the eBURST window in the 'Analysis' options, change the second box from the left to '0' (zero). - The first box is greyed out.
• Click 'Compute' in the 'Analysis' options to the right of the box you have just changed.
• Click the 'Diagram' tab at the top to the eBURST window.
• Now click 'Draw' in the middle box at the bottom of the eBURST window.
• in the 'Diagram' menu at the top left of the screen, click off the 'Show ST Labels' option. When viewing a comparative eBURST diagram, those STs that have a green 'halo' are found only in the country you have chosen, those with a pink halo are found in both the country you have chosen and elsewhere and all other STs are only found outside of the country you have chosen.