Molecular genetic studies of canine inherited diseases

Abstract

The domestic dog has advantageous genome information ideal for mapping genes that cause disease. Humans share many diseases with dogs, which makes dogs an ideal model for studying the comparative genetics of disease. The availability of a canine genome reference sequence and high density SNP chips has facilitated the study of inherited diseases in dogs. The identification of gene-causing diseases in dogs is of relevance for human health. Here we describe the identification of causative mutations for three different canine diseases in orthologs of genes associated with orthologous human diseases. Among these, we describe what may prove to be the first inherited canine disease to be identified by whole genome sequencing. We discuss the importance of these finding and suggest future studies for each project.