Pigment Intensity in Dogs is Associated with a Copy Number Variant Upstream of KITLG

Weich, Kalie; Affolter, Verena; York, Daniel; Rebhun, Robert; Grahn, Robert; Kallenberg, Angelica; Bannasch, Danika

doi:10.3390/genes11010075

Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Edit a Special Issue

Article Menu

...

Correction published on 1 March 2021, see Genes 2021, 12(3), 357.

Open AccessArticle

Pigment Intensity in Dogs is Associated with a Copy Number Variant Upstream of KITLG

¹,

³,

³,

⁴,

⁴

and

Danika Bannasch

^1,*

Department of Population Health and Reproduction, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA

Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA

Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA

⁴

Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Genes 2020, 11(1), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes11010075

Received: 10 December 2019 / Revised: 6 January 2020 / Accepted: 8 January 2020 / Published: 9 January 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coat Color Genetics)

View Full-Text Download PDF

Browse Figures

Citation Export

Abstract

Dogs exhibit a wide variety of coat color types, and many genes have been identified that control pigment production, appearance, and distribution. Some breeds, such as the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (NSDTR), exhibit variation in pheomelanin pigment intensity that is not explained by known genetic variants. A genome-wide association study comparing light red to dark red in the NSDTR identified a significantly associated region on canine chromosome 15 (CFA 15:23 Mb–38 Mb). Coverage analysis of whole genome sequence data from eight dogs identified a 6 kb copy number variant (CNV) 152 kb upstream of KITLG. Genotyping with digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) confirmed a significant association between an increased copy number with the dark-red coat color in NSDTR (p = 6.1 × 10⁻⁷). The copy number of the CNV was also significantly associated with coat color variation in both eumelanin and pheomelanin-based Poodles (p = 1.5 × 10⁻⁸, 4.0 × 10⁻⁹) and across other breeds. Moreover, the copy number correlated with pigment intensity along the hair shaft in both pheomelanin and eumelanin coats. KITLG plays an important role in melanogenesis, and variants upstream of KITLG have been associated with coat color variation in mice as well as hair color in humans consistent with its role in the domestic dog. View Full-Text

Keywords: canine; coat color; pheomelanin; eumelanin; dilution

▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Supplementary Material

Supplementary File 1:
PDF-Document (PDF, 168 KiB)

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Weich, K.; Affolter, V.; York, D.; Rebhun, R.; Grahn, R.; Kallenberg, A.; Bannasch, D. Pigment Intensity in Dogs is Associated with a Copy Number Variant Upstream of KITLG. Genes 2020, 11, 75. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes11010075

AMA Style

Weich K, Affolter V, York D, Rebhun R, Grahn R, Kallenberg A, Bannasch D. Pigment Intensity in Dogs is Associated with a Copy Number Variant Upstream of KITLG. Genes. 2020; 11(1):75. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes11010075

Chicago/Turabian Style

Weich, Kalie, Verena Affolter, Daniel York, Robert Rebhun, Robert Grahn, Angelica Kallenberg, and Danika Bannasch. 2020. "Pigment Intensity in Dogs is Associated with a Copy Number Variant Upstream of KITLG" Genes 11, no. 1: 75. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes11010075

Find Other Styles

Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Abstract views Pdf views Html views

Article Menu

Pigment Intensity in Dogs is Associated with a Copy Number Variant Upstream of KITLG

Abstract

Supplementary Material

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Article Access Map by Country/Region

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI