MMAP: a cloud computing platform for mining the maximum accuracy of predicting phenotypes from genotypes

Accurately predicting phenotypes from genotypes holds great promise to improve health management in humans and animals, and breeding efficiency in animals and plants. Although many prediction methods have been developed, the optimal method differs across datasets due to multiple factors, including species, environments, populations and traits of interest. Studies have demonstrated that the number of genes underlying a trait and its heritability are the two key factors that determine which method fits the trait the best. In many cases, however, these two factors are unknown for the traits of interest. We developed a cloud computing platform for Mining the Maximum Accuracy of Predicting phenotypes from genotypes (MMAP) using unsupervised learning on publicly available real data and simulated data. MMAP provides a user interface to upload input data, manage projects and analyses and download the output results. The platform is free for the public to conduct computations for predicting phenotypes and genetic merit using the best prediction method optimized from many available ones, including Ridge Regression, gBLUP, compressed BLUP, Bayesian LASSO, Bayes A, B, Cpi and many more. Users can also use the platform to conduct data analyses with any methods of their choice. It is expected that extensive usage of MMAP would enrich the training data, which in turn results in continual improvement of the identification of the best method for use with particular traits.