Coat colour in dogs: identification of the merle locus in the Australian shepherd breed.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Coat colours in canines have many natural phenotypic variants. Some of the genes and alleles involved also cause genetic developmental defects, which are also observed in humans and mice. We studied the genetic bases of the merle phenotype in dogs to shed light on the pigmentation mechanisms and to identify genes involved in these complex pathways. The merle phenotype includes a lack of eumelanic pigmentation and developmental defects, hearing impairments and microphthalmia. It is similar to that observed in microphthalmia mouse mutants.

Results

Taking advantage of the dog as a powerful genetic model and using recently available genomic resources, we investigated the segregation of the merle phenotype in a five-generation pedigree, comprising 96 sampled Australian

SUBMITTER: Hedan B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1431520 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature