DNA profiling and personalised medicine from Nationwide Laboratories

The canine genome contains approximately 2.5 billion base pairs of DNA. It was fully sequenced for use by biomedical and veterinary researchers around the world in 2004 (National Human Genome Research, 2012). Many breeds of dog are prone to genetic disease, including forms of heart disease, blindness, deafness and autoimmune disease, as a result of mutations in these DNA base pairs. Most inherited disorders are breed specific and involve single gene defects, passed on through Mendelian inheritance, which is the simplest form (Slutsky et al, 2013). The sequencing of the canine genome has greatly increased the ease with which tests for inherited disease, occurring as a result of single-gene mutations, can be developed. There are now a huge number of tests widely available for the easy detection of such conditions (Sampson, 2011).

Currently, these tests are most often used in veterinary practice to confirm a suspected diagnosis in an animal presenting with symptoms of the disease. However, they are becoming increasingly used by breeders in an attempt to exclude dogs containing specific genetic mutations from the gene pool, so they will not be used in breeding.