Sociality genes are associated with human-directed social behaviour in golden and Labrador retriever dogs.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Dogs have human-directed social skills that allow them to communicate and cooperate with humans. We have previously identified two loci on chromosome 26 associated with human contact-seeking behaviors during an unsolvable problem task in laboratory beagles (Persson et al., 2016). The aim of the present study was to verify the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in additional dog breeds. We also studied how the allele frequencies have changed during domestication and recent selection.

Methods

Dogs of two breeds, 61 golden retrievers and 100 Labrador retrievers, were phenotyped and genotyped, and 19 wolves were genotyped. The Labrador retrievers were divided into common and field type by pedigree data to make it possible to study the effects of recent selection.

SUBMITTER: Persson ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6225837 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature