So when do you think the mutations began?
Al
Posted on 12/07/2005 5:14:45 PM PST by neverdem
Researchers have decoded the dog genome to a high degree of accuracy, allowing deep insights into the evolutionary history not only of Canis familiaris but also of its devoted companion species, Homo sapiens.
The dog whose genome has been sequenced is Tasha, a female boxer whose owners wish to remain anonymous, said Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, a biologist at the Broad Institute in Cambridge who led a large group of colleagues in the DNA sequencing effort. Their findings are being reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.
The world's dog population numbers some 400 million, divided into about 400 breeds. The researchers chose to sequence Tasha's genome because boxers are quite inbred, easing the decoding task, and because since she is a female, they did not have to bother with a Y chromosome, whose long palindromic regions make it particularly hard slogging.
One insight that has emerged from having a fairly complete dog genome, in addition to those for humans and mice, is that researchers can begin to see the essence of what makes a mammal. The same 5 percent of DNA is conserved in all three species, and this presumably is evolution's basic toolkit for constructing a generic mammal.
Of this conserved tool kit, some 2 percent consists of known genes and the rest of something else, presumably the regulatory elements of DNA that control the operation of the protein-encoding genes, Dr. Lindblad-Toh said.
The conserved genes probably include those deployed during development to construct the organism, But many regulatory elements also seem to be needed, so as to orchestrate an elaborate succession of genes being switched off and on as new tissues and organs are generated.
Another finding that has emerged from a three-way comparison of dog, mouse and human is that genes for brain function seem to have...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
So when do you think the mutations began?
Al
Evelyn, a modified dog Viewed the quivering fringe of a special doily Draped across the piano, with some surprise In the darkened room Where the chairs dismayed And the horrible curtains Muffled the rain She could hardly believe her eyes A curious breeze A garlic breath Which sounded like a snore Somewhere near the Steinway (or even from within) Had caused the doily fringe to waft & tremble in the gloom Evelyn, a dog, having undergone Further modification Pondered the significance of short-person behavior In pedal-depressed panchromatic resonance And other highly ambient domains... Arf she said
Stick around. You'll learn a lot. ;-)
Hair, pinging you FYI. The thread has an interesting article about the dog genome, and the usual funny postings by FReepers.
Sorry dear, but I've NEVER wished to be that limber!
Yeah, probably even harder than algebra! 8-O
susie
This ain't Photoshopped.
I'm a Lab person, but I can appreciate a handsome hunting dog of any breed. My girl is a no-go for show (despite her AKC Ch dad . . . because of her field-trial mom) but she's a versatile, hard-working dog!
LOL! I just LOVE that pic!
That thing is really disquieting ;~D
I've done chilled semen breedings on my (insert real word for female dogs here--and after a few of the jokes on this thread I cannot believe that word would be all that offensive!) twice. No luck either time. And it WAS expensive, and a real pain.
But, I'm excited about this research. I've submitted DNA to UC Davis for some genetic research they were doing (my spinoni, not me myself, I'm sure my DNA is of no interest). There are at least a few genetic diseases (CA in spinoni for instance) that could probably be eradicated with a test for a marker. I love science!
Oh, and I almost forgot to add. Those are lovely puppies! Are they weims?
susie
Some of these pictures are really kinda disturbing! :)
susie
Agility is so much more fun than conformation (at least my dogs seem to think so). I have swamp collies. One of my current ones is dumb as a stump the other is too smart for me! And they're half sisters. Go figure. I wonder if they'll find the gene(s) for some of the abilities. That would be interesting, but I wonder what it would do to the *art* of dog breeding?
susie
I've only tried once, but I couldn't get my shepherd to keep his balls in the ice cube tray.
Wish I knew then what I knew now, she's a natural born mother, perfect temperament, perfect health, immensely talented in agility and also a good bird dog (that's despite the ignorance of her handler). But we might run into some surprises because she's the product of a profound out-cross. Her parents being from different branches of the Lab tree have ZERO common ancestors back as far as we can trace. When I bred Siamese cats, that kind of breeding always resulted in tremendous variation within the litter that persisted for a generation or two. It was certainly the case with Shelley's litter - they ran the gamut from couch-potato show Lab to my wild girl, and everything in between, and in size and appearance there's just as much variation. I met one of Shelley's full brothers (different litter) at a hunt club training day, and he looks EXACTLY like a show Lab - he's like a double cube, 2 inches taller than the Shell and probably 30 pounds heavier, with a head like a concrete block.
You're right about the "art" of breeding for abilities or looks - lots of times you don't know why you know what you know . . . I don't think there's any money in carrying this research that far though.
Actually, I try to keep my COAs low, as I think that even tho you get less consistancy in litters, you might get fewer immune system problems (don't know if that's as big a problem in labs as in goldens). I like to do outcrosses to fairly linebred dogs myself. And, my first show golden was from multi-titled parents (obed, conf, field and tracking). But....I held her back because I was a terrible trainer (and had 3 small boys and a husband who also thought they needed soem attention!)She only got one conformation point, one JH leg, a WC and was one leg away from a CDX when I retired her (we played at agility, but she developed uveitis and I don't think she felt confident on the dog walk etc because of her vision, but maybe I'm making excuses).
If you would like to see some pictures, pm me. She was a sweetie (and an outcross) and lived to almost 13. I am pretty sure (in hindsight) that she died of erlichia, altho we never got a definitive diagnosis. I would love to have her again (but she was a terrible producer--however, I think alot of that was bad choices in sires on my part--that darned *art* of breeding!)
susie
Ya gotta know what yer doin'.... ;)
susie
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