39 & Me
Click here to read the complete article
By Caroline Coile
And herein lies one problem with genetic testing: dog owners, and even dog breeders, too often don’t know what it means. And it’s not really their fault. Thirty years ago all we had to know was the difference between genotype and phenotype, and dominant and recessive. We thought that if we could identify every carrier through test breedings, and remove them from the gene pool, we could purge our dogs of hereditary illness. We fantasized about DNA tests that might one day allow us to actually “see” a dog’s recessive genes. And when that first test happened, and then another, and another, breeders set out to do just that. They removed every carrier they could identify, and in so doing created a genetic bottleneck that reduce their breed’s genetic diversity and allowed other heretofore unknown or insignificant diseases to come to the forefront. With more knowledge of our dog’s genes came the need for more knowledge on how to use this knowledge.
Now we have hundreds of DNA tests, and predictably, even more misunderstanding when it comes to their use. Which is why the hot-off-the-press AKC Canine Health Foundation’s white paper, Review of the State of Genetic Testing—a Living Resource, is something everyone who has ever even uttered the phrase “DNA test” should read. And since it’s free, and online at www.akcchf.org/educational-resources/library/articles/CANINE_GENETIC_TESTING_07-28-2020_FINAL_with-links.pdf , you can read it while you’re waiting for groups, or waiting for your next progesterone test results. And it’s written so that no matter what your level of expertise, you can start at the basics and work up, or skip around and just check out the newer parts.
As for our friend asking the questions, she could have read several sections concerning genetic tests and breed specificity. Among other things, she would have found out while several companies offer multiplex tests that will test for the presence of alleles associated with as many as somewhere around 175 disorders in certain breeds, they have limitations that far too many dog owners don’t understand:
Click here to read the complete article
Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=191277
Posted by AnthonyA
on Oct 23 2020. Filed under Current Articles, Featured.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Comments are closed
