Poster Sessions

GENO -46

Edouard Cadieu

E. Cadieu, H. G. Parker, P. Quignon, B. VonHoldt, T. Spady, D. S. Mosher, C. D. Bustamante, R. K. Wayne, E. A. Ostrander

Mapping Fixed traits in Purebred Domestic Dogs : HAIR PHENOTYPES

The sequence of the dog genome and the high throughput SNP genotyping has recently opened the door for the understanding of simple and complex trait such as morphologic differences, behavior, and complex diseases. Our own laboratory, together with that of Carlos Bustamante and Robert Wayne are involved in a large genotyping effort, called CanMap to understand the genetics of fixed traits in AKC-recognized breeds. To date, 903 dogs from 80 breeds have been genotyped using the Affymetrix SNP chip, which contains 127,000 SNPs. By using this data, we selected breeds with several hair phenotypes: furnishing, long and short hair, and curly hair. After whole genome association we found one locus for each of those phenotypes. For the furnishing phenotype, we identified the gene and the mutation involved in the trait. For the other two loci, we are genotyping more SNPs to fine-map the regions and find candidate genes which will be sequenced to identify the mutations. With the three genes and mutations identified we hope that we will be able to explain most of the coat types in dogs by the combinations of the different alleles.