A graph-theoretic data model for genome mapping databases

Graphs are a natural foundation for genome map databases. Mapping and other genomic data can be clearly represented by graphs, and graphs can be stored in a database. Graphs are defined as a collection of nodes and arcs and can represent genomic objects and relationships between them. Mapping databases are needed to store the rapidly growing amount of mapping data. These databases must store the information contained in both published maps and laboratory notebooks. We describe a graph database which can store mapping data directly as graphs and formalize it as a graph-theoretic data model