IFM Biology, Linköping University, 58186 Linköping, Sweden.
Genes (Basel). 2021 Feb 23;12(2):316. doi: 10.3390/genes12020316.
Loss of pigmentation is a hallmark of domestication, and dogs offer a unique model for understanding the genetics of fur coloration. The aim of this study was to use dense genetic mapping to map loci underlying variations in color and whiteness in a population of laboratory beagles. A total of 190 beagles with well-defined pedigrees were phenotyped for the amount of white color in six different body parts, including the saddle. All individuals were genotyped on 85,172 informative and valid SNP-markers and the genome-wide associations for the amount of white in each body part were determined. There was a large variation in the amount of white on different parts of the body, and the whiteness was highly correlated within individuals, except for saddle color which was only moderately correlated with overall whiteness. The GWAS showed significant associations with two loci, one on chromosome 5, containing the gene, and one on chromosome 20, containing the gene. Our results suggest that the variation in loss of pigmentation is largely a function of regulatory variation related to these genes.
色素沉着的丧失是驯化的一个标志，而狗为理解毛色遗传提供了一个独特的模型。本研究的目的是利用密集的遗传图谱来绘制一个实验室比格犬群体中颜色和白色变化的基因座。总共对 190 只具有明确系谱的比格犬进行了表型分析，以确定 6 个不同身体部位（包括鞍部）的白色数量。所有个体均在 85172 个信息丰富且有效的 SNP 标记上进行了基因型分析，并确定了每个身体部位白色数量的全基因组关联。不同身体部位的白色数量存在很大差异，个体内部的白色度高度相关，除了鞍部颜色，其与整体白色度仅中度相关。GWAS 显示与两个基因座存在显著关联，一个位于包含基因的 5 号染色体上，另一个位于包含基因的 20 号染色体上。我们的结果表明，色素丧失的变化在很大程度上是与这些基因相关的调节变异的函数。
