Abstract
Assistance dog training programs can see as many as 60% of their trainees dismissed. Many training programs utilize behavioral assays prior to admittance to identify likely successful candidates, yet such assays can be insconsistent. Recently, four canine retrotransposon mobile element insertions (MEIs) in or near genes WBSCR17 (Cfa6.6 and Cfa6.7), GTF2I (Cfa6.66) and POM121 (Cfa6.83) were identified in domestic dogs and gray wolves. Variations in these MEIs were significantly associated with a heightened propensity to initiate prolonged social contact or hypersociability. Using our dataset of 837 dogs, 228 of which had paired survey-based behavioral data, we discovered that one of the insertions in WBSCR17 is the most important predictor of dog sociable behaviors related to human proximity, measured by the Canine Behavioral Assessment Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 439 |
Journal | Genes |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 2019 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Genetics
- Genetics(clinical)
Keywords
- Canis
- Domestication
- Genetics
- Hypersociability
- Transposons