OK, so this isn’t about human DNA, but it is somewhat allied field of technology: DNA of dogs. I found it to be interesting and decided to share it here.
Could your dog be predisposed to a fatal disease? Is your new shelter pup part beagle or boxer? Many pet owners seek answers to these questions, and as a result, direct-to-consumer dog DNA testing is booming.
But how reliable are dog DNA tests—and are the results worth your time? As it turns out, swabbing your dog’s slobber and mailing it to a testing service is the easy part, but just how (or whether) to act on that information presents some ruff choices for scientists and pet owners alike.
Some scientists speculate that dogs separated off from wolves about 23,000 years ago while others claim it happened about 10,000 years later. Either way, humans have left an indelible impression on canines: Careful dog breeding—often tied to desired physical or behavioral characteristics—has produced nearly 400 modern breedsworldwide.
Scientists sequenced a full dog genome for the first time in 2004. Since then, we’ve learned much more about canines’ genetic predisposition to a variety of conditions such as kidney cancer, retinal atrophy, and hip dysplasia.
In one massive 2023 study of more than 1 million dogs, researchers screened for 250 genetic variants associated with diseases like bald thigh syndrome, a hair loss disorder that primarily strikes hounds, and cone-rod dystrophy, an eye disorder that can lead to blindness among pit bulls. The researchers found that 57 percent of dogs carry at least one studied disease variant, and that the less genetic variability a dog has, the more disease markers in its DNA—which increases the chance of health issues.
Most dogs are highly inbred, research suggests.
You can read more in an article by Erin Blakemore published in the nationalgeographic web site at: bit.ly/3TM73x3.