Dataset Information

Recent breeding history of dog breeds in Sweden: modest rates of inbreeding, extensive loss of genetic diversity and lack of correlation between inbreeding and health.

ABSTRACT: One problem in modern dogs is a high occurrence of physical diseases, defects and disorders. Many breeds exhibit physical problems that affect individual dogs throughout life. A potential cause of these problems is inbreeding that is known to reduce the viability of individuals. We investigated the possible correlation between recent inbreeding and health problems in dogs and used studbook data from 26 breeds provided by the Swedish Kennel Club for this purpose. The pedigrees date back to the mid-20th century and comprise 5-10 generations and 1 000-50 000 individuals per pedigree over our study period of 1980-2010. We compared levels of inbreeding and loss of genetic variation measured in relation to the number of founding animals during this period in the investigated dog breeds that we classified as 'healthy' (11 breeds) or 'unhealthy' (15) based on statistics on the extent of veterinary care obtained from Sweden's four largest insurance companies for pets. We found extensive loss of genetic variation and moderate levels of recent inbreeding in all breeds examined, but no strong indication of a difference in these parameters between healthy versus unhealthy breeds over this period. Thus, recent breeding history with respect to rate of inbreeding does not appear to be a main cause of poor health in the investigated dog breeds in Sweden. We identified both strengths and weaknesses of the dog pedigree data important to consider in future work of monitoring and conserving genetic diversity of dog breeds.

SUBMITTER: Jansson M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4166703 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Recent breeding history of dog breeds in Sweden: modest rates of inbreeding, extensive loss of genetic diversity and lack of correlation between inbreeding and health.

Jansson M M Laikre L L

Journal of animal breeding and genetics = Zeitschrift fur Tierzuchtung und Zuchtungsbiologie 20131202 2

One problem in modern dogs is a high occurrence of physical diseases, defects and disorders. Many breeds exhibit physical problems that affect individual dogs throughout life. A potential cause of these problems is inbreeding that is known to reduce the viability of individuals. We investigated the possible correlation between recent inbreeding and health problems in dogs and used studbook data from 26 breeds provided by the Swedish Kennel Club for this purpose. The pedigrees date back to the mi ...[more]

PMID: 24289536

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Inbreeding decreases animal performance (inbreeding depression), but not all inbreeding is expected to be equally harmful. Recent inbreeding is expected to be more harmful than ancient inbreeding, because selection decreases the frequency of deleterious alleles over time. Selection efficiency is increased by inbreeding, a process called purging. Our objective was to investigate effects of recent and ancient inbreeding on yield, fertility and udder health traits in Dutch Holstein-Friesian cows. METHODS:In total, 38,792 first-parity cows were included. Pedigree inbreeding ([Formula: see text]) was computed and 75 k genotype data were used to compute genomic inbreeding, among others based on regions of homozygosity (ROH) in the genome ([Formula: see text]). RESULTS:Inbreeding depression was observed, e.g. a 1% increase in [Formula: see text] was associated with a 36.3 kg (SE?=?2.4) decrease in 305-day milk yield, a 0.48 day (SE?=?0.15) increase in calving interval and a 0.86 unit (SE?=?0.28) increase in somatic cell score for day 150 through to 400. These effects equalled -?0.45, 0.12 and 0.05% of the trait means, respectively. When [Formula: see text] was split into generation-based components, inbreeding on recent generations was more harmful than inbreeding on more distant generations for yield traits. When [Formula: see text] was split into new and ancestral components, based on whether alleles were identical-by-descent for the first time or not, new inbreeding was more harmful than ancestral inbreeding, especially for yield traits. For example, a 1% increase in new inbreeding was associated with a 2.42 kg (SE?=?0.41) decrease in 305-day fat yield, compared to a 0.03 kg (SE?=?0.71) increase for ancestral inbreeding. There were no clear differences between effects of long ROH (recent inbreeding) and short ROH (ancient inbreeding). CONCLUSIONS:Inbreeding depression was observed for yield, fertility and udder health traits. For yield traits and based on pedigree, inbreeding on recent generations was more harmful than inbreeding on distant generations and there was evidence of purging. Across all traits, long and short ROH contributed to inbreeding depression. In future work, inbreeding depression and purging should be assessed in more detail at the genomic level, using higher density information and genomic time series.

Dataset Information

Recent breeding history of dog breeds in Sweden: modest rates of inbreeding, extensive loss of genetic diversity and lack of correlation between inbreeding and health.

Publications

Recent breeding history of dog breeds in Sweden: modest rates of inbreeding, extensive loss of genetic diversity and lack of correlation between inbreeding and health.

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