Premium
Rapid genetic diversification within dog breeds as evidenced by a case study on S chnauzers
Author(s) -
Streitberger K.,
Schweizer M.,
Kropatsch R.,
Dekomien G.,
Distl O.,
Fischer M. S.,
Epplen J. T.,
Hertwig S. T.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
animal genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.756
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2052
pISSN - 0268-9146
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2052.2011.02300.x
Subject(s) - biology , domestication , breed , genetic diversity , evolutionary biology , microsatellite , selection (genetic algorithm) , coat , genetic structure , assortative mating , allele , zoology , genetics , genetic variation , mating , gene , population , ecology , demography , artificial intelligence , sociology , computer science
Summary As a result of strong artificial selection, the domesticated dog has arguably become one of the most morphologically diverse vertebrate species, which is mirrored in the classification of around 400 different breeds. To test the influence of breeding history on the genetic structure and variability of today's dog breeds, we investigated 12 dog breeds using a set of 19 microsatellite markers from a total of 597 individuals with about 50 individuals analysed per breed. High genetic diversity was noted over all breeds, with the ancient A sian breeds ( A kita, C how C how, S har P ei) exhibiting the highest variability, as was indicated chiefly by an extraordinarily high number of rare and private alleles. Using a B ayesian clustering method, we detected significant genetic stratification within the closely related S chnauzer breeds. The individuals of these three recently differentiated breeds ( M iniature, S tandard and G iant S chnauzer) could not be assigned to a single cluster each. This hidden genetic structure was probably caused by assortative mating owing to breeders’ preferences regarding coat colour types and the underlying practice of breeding in separate lineages. Such processes of strong artificial disruptive selection for different morphological traits in isolated and relatively small lineages can result in the rapid creation of new dog types and potentially new breeds and represent a unique opportunity to study the evolution of genetic and morphological differences in recently diverged populations.