The Institute of Canine Biology
  • HOME
  • Blog
  • Courses
    • COI BootCamp (FREE!)
    • Basic Population Genetics (FREE)
    • The Science of Canine Husbandry
    • Managing Genetics For the Future >
      • Syllabus - Managing Genetics for the Future
    • The Biology of Dogs (Open Reg )
    • DNA For Dog Breeders >
      • Syllabus - DNA for Dog Breeders
      • Open Reg - DNA For Dog Breeders
    • Understanding Hip & Elbow Dysplasia >
      • Open Reg - Understanding Hip & Elbow Dysplasia
    • Genetics of Behavior & Performance >
      • Syllabus - Genetics Behavior & Performance
      • Open Reg - Genetics of Behavior & Performance (Open Reg)
    • Strategies for Preservation Breeding >
      • Open Reg - Strategies for Preservation Breeding
    • Group Discounts
    • MORE FREE COURSES >
      • Quickie Genetics (Free!)
      • Heredity & Genetics (Free!)
      • Useful Genetics (Free!)
      • Basic Genetics Videos
  • Breed Preservation
    • Breed Status
    • Breeding for the future >
      • BFF Breed Groups
    • The "Elevator Pitch"
    • What's in the Gene Pool?
    • The Pox of Popular Sires
    • What population genetics can tell us about a breed
    • What population genetics can tell you...Tollers & Heelers
    • How to use kinship data
    • Using EBVs to breed better dogs >
      • How population size affects inbreeding
      • EBV Examples
    • How to read a dendrogram
    • Global Pedigree Project >
      • The Database
    • Finding the genes without DNA
    • How to read a heat map
  • Health Data
    • Bloat (Purdue Study)
    • Body Condition Score >
      • % Dysplastic vs BCS
    • Breed Comparions
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Cataracts
    • Caesareans
    • Deafness
    • Degenerative Myelopathy
    • Elbow Dysplasia
    • Epilepsy
    • Genetic Diversity
    • Genetic Diversity (MyDogDNA)
    • Hip Dysplasia >
      • Hip Dysplasia (Hou et al 2013)
    • Inbreeding Effects
    • Inbreeding (Gubbels)
    • Inbreeding (Dreger)
    • Lifespan
    • Litter size
    • Metabolic
    • mtDNA
    • Orthopedic
    • Mode of Inheritance
    • Patella Luxation
    • Thyroid
    • Portosystemic shunt
    • Purebred vs Mixed (UC Davis)
    • Purebred vs Mixed Breed (Bonnett)
    • Spay & Neuter Effects
    • Calboli et al 2008
    • Hodgman (1963)
    • Scott & Fuller (1965)
    • Stockard: Purebred crosses
    • Summers (2011)
  • Projects
    • How To Interpret Breed Analyses
    • Afghan Hound
    • More details about the Toller study
    • Belgian Tervuren >
      • Belgian Terv p2
      • Belgians- why population size matters
    • Bernese Mountain Dog
    • Boxer
    • Brussels Griffon
    • Bullmastiff
    • Canaan Dog >
      • Canaan analyses
    • Cesky Terrier >
      • Cesky genetic history
    • Chinook
    • Curly-coated Retriever
    • Doberman
    • Entelbucher Mountain Dog
    • Flatcoat Retriever
    • French Bulldog
    • German Shorthair
    • Golden Retriever >
      • Golden Retriever Pedigree Charts
    • Irish Water Spaniel >
      • IWS (6 Nov 17)
    • Labrador Retriever
    • Manchester Terrier
    • Mongolian Bankhar >
      • Research Updates
      • Bankhar 1
    • Norwegian Lundehund
    • Plummer Terrier
    • Otterhound
    • Portuguese Water Dog >
      • Portuguese Water Dog (pt 2)
    • Ridgeback
    • Schipperke
    • Standard Poodle >
      • The Problem With Poodles
      • 3poodle pedigree charts
      • 3Poodle Wycliff dogs
      • Poodle Genetics
    • Tibetan Spaniel
    • Tibetan Mastiff
    • West Highland White Terrier
    • Whippet
    • Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
    • UK KC Graphs >
      • UK KC Breed Status
      • UK Groups
      • KC Gundogs
      • KC Hounds
      • KC Terriers >
        • Terriers (select breeds)
      • KC Pastoral
      • KC Toys
      • KC Working
      • KC Utility
      • Australian KC
    • Breed outcrossing programs
  • Resources
    • Genetics Databases
    • Stud Books >
      • American Kennel Club stud books
      • Field Dog stud books
      • The Kennel Club (UK)
    • Learn
    • Videos about dog genetics
    • The Amazing Things Dogs Do! (videos) >
      • Livestock Management
      • Livestock guarding
      • Transportation, exploration, racing
      • Conservation & wildlife management
      • Detection Dogs
      • Medicine & Research
      • Entertainment
      • AKC/CHF Podcasts
    • Read & Watch
    • Bookshelf
  • Preventing Uterine Inertia

Evaluating the genetic status of a breed using both pedigrees and DNA

3/20/2016

 
By Carol Beuchat PhD
​
There's a nice little paper just out about the Bullmastiff that provides a useful discussion of how both pedigree information and DNA analysis can be used to assess the genetic status of a dog breed. They worked on the population of Bullmastiffs in Australia, which descended from dogs imported from the UK. Although the breed was recognized by the British Kennel Club in the 1920's, the pedigree data for the animals in the Australian registry only go back to 1980, so documentation of the ancestry of the population is incomplete. This means that pedigree analysis will underestimate the current inbreeding level because it documents only the inbreeding that has accumulated since 1980. While there is much to be learned even from incomplete pedigree data, DNA analyses can complement pedigree analysis as well as fill in some of the gaps in pedigree data.
A nice thing about this study is that they genotyped nearly 200 of the 16,739 dogs in their pedigree database, so the were able to compare information produced on both platforms. They also compared their estimates of homozygosity (inbreeding) for Bullmastiffs with information for 12 other breeds from previous studies. Finally, they examined the genetic relationship between the Bullmastiff and 30 other dog breeds. 
They characterized the Australian Bullmastiff population using standard statistics from population genetics, and they do a nice summary of what these mean in the paper. Those with some basic background in population genetics of dogs will recognize some of these, such as effective population size, effective number of founders, and effective number of ancestors. They also used some techniques specific to DNA analysis such as "runs of homozygosity" (ROH), which reflects the abundance and magnitude of stretches of the DNA that are homozygous. ROH can be used to distinguish between recent and ancient inbreeding (e.g., from the time of breed establishment).
A really cool thing they were able to do with the genotype data is display the relationships among all individuals as a network, with closely related dogs organized as clusters and lines connecting related clusters. This a nice way to convey the complex relationships among animals, especially in populations like dogs where the breeding patterns can be unusual and even involve animals long since deceased.
Picture
Unless you have Bullmastiffs, you probably won't be interested in the details of the results, but this is a great resource for learning about the basics of population genetics and the use of both pedigree and DNA information to reveal the genetic health of a breed. As the authors point out, managing inbreeding and reducing the expression of genetic disorders will require information about the genetics of both the individual and the breed, and you can expect to see more and more of these studies as breeders adopt modern strategies for genetic management. Pedigrees provide a roadmap that documents the genetic history of a breed and the relationships among current animals, while DNA can distinguish between old and recent inbreeding and provide fine scale resolution of genetic differences between closely related animals.

Although many of these tools (and the jargon) will be unfamiliar to some breeders, I think this paper is a great place for the novice to dip their toes into the modern genetics of populations. You will find some basic courses about population genetic on the ICB website, and courses to help breeders understand and use the tools of molecular genetics are coming soon. The next five years or so is likely to see an explosion of breed studies similar to this one as breeders recognize the importance of genetic management at the breed level to the control of genetic disorders.

Mortlock, S-A, MS Khatkar, & P Williamson. 2016. Comparative analysis of genome diversity in Bullmastiff dogs. PLoS ONE 11(1): e0147941. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147941 (download the pdf)

Check out
ICB's online courses
​

*******************

Coming up NEXT -

Basic Population Genetics for Dog Breeders
Class starts 4 April 2016
​Sign up now!


***************************************

Visit our Facebook Groups

ICB Institute of Canine Biology
...the latest canine news and research

ICB Breeding for the Future
...the science of dog breeding


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    January 2025
    November 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    December 2020
    January 2020
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    March 2013
    July 2012
    April 2012

    Categories

    All
    Behavior
    Border-collie
    Herding

Blog

News


About Us

Contact Us








Copyright © 2012-2017 Institute of Canine Biology
Picture
Picture