Anicom Specialty Medical Institute Inc., Yokohama, Kanagawa, 231-0033, Japan.
Department of Animal Sciences, Teikyo University of Science, Uenohara, Yamanashi, 409-0193, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2023 May 5;13(1):7326. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-33638-6.
Drug detection dogs play integral roles in society. However, the interplay between their behaviors and genetic characteristics underlying their performance remains uninvestigated. Herein, more than 120,000 genetic variants were evaluated in 326 German Shepherd or Labrador Retriever dogs to profile the genetic traits associated with various behavioral traits related to the successful training of drug detection dogs. Behavioral breed differences were observed in 'friendliness to humans' and 'tolerance to dogs.' A genome-wide association study within both breeds identified 11 regions potentially associated with drug detection dog characteristics as well as 'interest in the target' and 'friendliness to humans,' which are related to drug detection abilities. Among them, 63 protein-coding genes, including Atat1 and Pfn2 known to be associated with anxiety-related or exploration behavior in mice, respectively, were located surrounding the identified candidate polymorphisms. This study highlights genetic characteristics associated with behavioral traits that are important for the successful training of drug detection dogs. Thus, these findings may facilitate improved breeding and training of these dogs.
缉毒犬在社会中发挥着重要作用。然而，它们的行为与其性能相关的遗传特征之间的相互作用仍未得到研究。在此，对 326 只德国牧羊犬或拉布拉多猎犬进行了超过 120,000 个遗传变异评估，以分析与成功训练缉毒犬相关的各种行为特征相关的遗传特征。在“对人类的友好程度”和“对狗的容忍度”方面观察到了品种间的行为差异。在两个品种内进行的全基因组关联研究确定了 11 个可能与缉毒犬特征以及“对目标的兴趣”和“对人类的友好程度”相关的区域，这些特征与缉毒能力有关。其中，63 个编码蛋白质的基因，包括 Atat1 和 Pfn2，分别在小鼠中与焦虑相关或探索行为有关，位于鉴定出的候选多态性周围。这项研究强调了与行为特征相关的遗传特征，这些特征对成功训练缉毒犬很重要。因此，这些发现可能有助于改进这些犬的繁殖和训练。
