From Dog DNA to Human Diseases

Topic

Resource Type

Level

High School — General High School — AP/IB College

Duration

00:09:31

Saved By

4 Users

Description

This video follows biologist Elinor Karlsson, who studies dogs to find genes associated with traits, including certain diseases.

Due to a long history of selective breeding, dogs within a breed are almost genetically identical. This makes them ideal for finding genetic differences associated with traits of interest. Scientists focus on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): specific positions in the genome where nucleotides are known to vary among dogs. They can use SNPs to locate genes associated with diseases such as cancer, which may also inform human medicine.

An audio descriptive version of the film is available via our media player.

Key Terms

bone cancer, breed, domestication, genome-wide association study (GWAS), inbreeding, model organism, selective breeding, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)

Primary Literature

Karlsson, Elinor K., Izabella Baranowska, Claire M. Wade, Nicolette H. C. Salmon Hillbertz, Michael C. Zody, Nathan Anderson, Tara M. Biagi, et al. 2007. “Efficient mapping of mendelian traits in dogs through genome-wide association.” Nature Genetics 39, 11: 1321–1328. https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.2007.10.

Karlsson, Elinor K., Snaevar Sigurdsson, Emma Ivansson, Rachael Thomas, Ingegerd Elvers, Jason Wright, Cedric Howald, et al. 2013. “Genome-wide analyses implicate 33 loci in heritable dog osteosarcoma, including regulatory variants near CDKN2A/B.” Genome Biology 14: R132. https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2013-14-12-r132.