May 2, 2007

Google's Supermap helps scientists understand virus

An interactive "supermap" that follows the mutations and spread of bird flu around the globe over time should help provide a better understanding of the virus and anticipate further outbreaks, according to a new study by US researchers.

Involving University of Colorado at Boulder and Ohio State University researchers, the team used data from the known evolution and spread of bird flu to create a roadmap of viral spread in time and space

The research team used data from ecology and evolutionary biology, Assistant Professor Robert Guralnick, said.

The super map is on an interactive globe using Google Earth technology which allows users to access any part of the world and analyze movements and changes in the genomes, or genetic blueprints, of known sub-strains that have been sequenced since 1996.

This technology was used to chart the spread of bird flu through Asia, Indonesia, the Middle East and Europe by various hosts, said CU-Boulder graduate student Andrew Hill, a study. They also used the supermap to track key genetic traits prevalent in some bird flu genomes that have the ability to infect mammals, including humans, he said.

This is a revolutionary method for integrating and sharing knowledge about disease spread, said Hill, chief architect of the visualization portion of the collaborative research project.

Like the legend of a roadmap, colors and symbols on the supermap indicate which types of hosts carry the virus or the distribution of genotypes of interest, said Hill. This would allow testing of hypotheses on the geographic distribution of strains, Hill said.

The team also used the supermap to visualize the spread of bird flu by specific orders of birds and mammals, including waterfowl, domestic fowl, shorebirds, raptors, songbirds, hoofed mammals and carnivores, said Guralnick.