my $self = shift;

  my (%rec,%source,%status,%rec_pos,%rec_seq_region,$three_mappings);


  debug("Dumping Variation");

  # Create hashes of variation_id's, source_id's etc keyed by variation name
  my ($variation_id,$name,$source_id,$validation_status);
  my $sth = $self->{'dbVar'}->prepare (qq{SELECT variation_id, name, source_id, validation_status
						FROM   variation});
  $sth->execute();
  $sth->bind_columns(\$variation_id,\$name,\$source_id,\$validation_status);

  while($sth->fetch){
    $rec{$name} = $variation_id;
    $source{$name} = $source_id;
    $status{$name} = $validation_status ? $validation_status : '\N';
  }
  $sth->finish();

  #we need to create a seq_region table
  $self->{'dbVar'}->do(qq{CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS seq_region(
                               seq_region_id int(10),
                               name varchar(40),
                               primary key (seq_region_id),
                               unique key (name))
 });

  # Create hash of top-level seq_region_id keyed by seq_region_name
  my ($seq_region_id,$seq_region_name);
  my $sth1 = $self->{'dbCore'}->dbc->prepare (qq{
select sr.seq_region_id, sr.name 
from   seq_region sr, seq_region_attrib sra, attrib_type at 
where  sr.seq_region_id=sra.seq_region_id 
and    sra.attrib_type_id = at.attrib_type_id 
and    at.code="toplevel" } );
  $sth1->execute();
  $sth1->bind_columns(\$seq_region_id,\$seq_region_name);
  while ($sth1->fetch) {
    $rec_seq_region{$seq_region_name} = $seq_region_id;
    $self->{'dbVar'}->do(qq{INSERT IGNORE INTO seq_region(seq_region_id,name)values($seq_region_id,"$seq_region_name")});
  }
  $sth1->finish();