Canine Coat and Nose Color Testing
Introducing a New Innovative DNA Test
HealthGene Laboratory is proud to announce
a new DNA test for canine coat and nose color determination.
Using the latest DNA testing procedures, our laboratory
is able to determine the genetic basis of coat and nose
color, as well as hidden color (brown, black or red/yellow),
for an array of breeds. What does this mean for breeders?
Knowing the hidden color of the sire and the dam is essential
for choosing the best partners for your breeding stock,
as well as determining the future color of puppies (see
figure 1). Also, this information can be crucial to satisfy
breed standards when registering your dog.
What determines your dogs coat color?
The control of coat color and pattern in
mammals is complex. Specialized pigment forming cells called
melanocytes are responsible for providing the pigment of
your dogs coat. These melanocytes are coded by specific
genes that determine their pigment and hence your dog’s
coat. For instance, a gene known as MC1r is responsible
for the red or black colors seen in specific dog breeds.
This gene comes in two forms that are represented by E and
e. E (dominant) is the normal form, and e is the mutated
form. When the E form of the gene is present in a dog, it
has some black or brown in its coat. Dogs that posses two
mutated forms of the gene, represented as ee (recessive),
are red or yellow in color. The gene responsible for brown
color in dogs is known as TYRP1. The normal (B) form of
this gene is dominant to the mutated (b) form. The TYRP1
gene is also affects the nose leather and pads. For example,
in dogs that are yellow or red (genotype ee), TYRP1 mutations
(bb) change the nose and pad coloration from black to brown.
Terminology for coat colors used by various
dog breeders and associations varies considerably. Liver,
chocolate and brown are all names used to describe various
shades of deep brown. Orange, red, yellow, gold and apricot
are all used for shades produced by the mutated MC1r gene.
Liver is used by some owners instead of orange. The use
of “red” for brown in the Australian Shepherd
is another confusing example. Understanding the inheritance
of coat color in some breeds has undoubtedly been complicated
by the use of some terms which may not correlate with the
different forms of the MC1r and TYRP1 genes.
HealthGene Laboratory is supplying free
sample collection kits for canine color testing. For more
information, please visit our website www.healthgene.com
or call toll free: 1-877-371-1551.
This test has been developed in
the laboratory of Dr. Schmutz, University of Saskatchewan
(Canada).
Figure 1. Example of color Possibilities
in Labrador Retrieversp
