ORCID Profile
0000-0003-2734-8560
Current Organisation
The Roslin Institute and R(D)SVS. The University of Edinburgh
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Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 06-2017
DOI: 10.1534/GENETICS.116.192674
Abstract: The genetic architecture of behavioral traits in dogs is of great interest to owners, breeders, and professionals involved in animal welfare, as well as to scientists studying the genetics of animal (including human) behavior. The genetic component of dog behavior is supported by between-breed differences and some evidence of within-breed variation. However, it is a challenge to gather sufficiently large datasets to dissect the genetic basis of complex traits such as behavior, which are both time-consuming and logistically difficult to measure, and known to be influenced by nongenetic factors. In this study, we exploited the knowledge that owners have of their dogs to generate a large dataset of personality traits in Labrador Retrievers. While accounting for key environmental factors, we demonstrate that genetic variance can be detected for dog personality traits assessed using questionnaire data. We identified substantial genetic variance for several traits, including fetching tendency and fear of loud noises, while other traits revealed negligibly small heritabilities. Genetic correlations were also estimated between traits however, due to fairly large SEs, only a handful of trait pairs yielded statistically significant estimates. Genomic analyses indicated that these traits are mainly polygenic, such that in idual genomic regions have small effects, and suggested chromosomal associations for six of the traits. The polygenic nature of these traits is consistent with previous behavioral genetics studies in other species, for ex le in mouse, and confirms that large datasets are required to quantify the genetic variance and to identify the in idual genes that influence behavioral traits.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-08-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-07-2018
DOI: 10.1111/AGE.12677
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-10-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41437-019-0275-2
Abstract: A favourable genetic structure and ersity of behavioural features highlights the potential of dogs for studying the genetic architecture of behaviour traits. However, behaviours are complex traits, which have been shown to be influenced by numerous genetic and non-genetic factors, complicating their analysis. In this study, the genetic contribution to behaviour variation in German Shepherd dogs (GSDs) was analysed using genomic approaches. GSDs were phenotyped for behaviour traits using the established Canine Behavioural Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ). Genome-wide association study (GWAS) and regional heritability mapping (RHM) approaches were employed to identify associations between behaviour traits and genetic variants, while accounting for relevant non-genetic factors. By combining these complementary methods we endeavoured to increase the power to detect loci with small effects. Several behavioural traits exhibited moderate heritabilities, with the highest identified for Human-directed playfulness, a trait characterised by positive interactions with humans. We identified several genomic regions associated with one or more of the analysed behaviour traits. Some candidate genes located in these regions were previously linked to behavioural disorders in humans, suggesting a new context for their influence on behaviour characteristics. Overall, the results support dogs as a valuable resource to dissect the genetic architecture of behaviour traits and also highlight the value of focusing on a single breed in order to control for background genetic effects and thus avoid limitations of between-breed analyses.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2014
Location: Spain
Location: Spain
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: No location found
No related grants have been discovered for Enrique Sanchez-Molano.