狗的皮毛多種多樣,，有長(zhǎng)毛,、短毛、直毛,、卷毛等,。美國(guó)研究人員27日公布研究成果稱(chēng)，這些特征事實(shí)上僅由3種基因及它們的變種決定,。
美國(guó)國(guó)家人類(lèi)基因組研究所等機(jī)構(gòu)研究人員分析了80個(gè)品種共1000多只狗的基因組,。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，狗的皮毛外觀(guān)可分為3種簡(jiǎn)單屬性：長(zhǎng)度,、卷曲情況及質(zhì)地,。這些屬性分別由3種基因——FGF5、KRT71和RSPO2決定,。這些基因或它們變種的組合可解釋90％以上狗類(lèi)皮毛的“表現(xiàn)型”,，不過(guò)這僅適用于純種狗。
例如，攜帶RSPO2基因變種的狗的毛發(fā)一般都較硬,；同時(shí)攜帶RSPO2和KRT71基因變種的狗一般具有金屬絲狀卷發(fā),；而同時(shí)攜帶FGF5和RSPO2基因的狗基本都是長(zhǎng)毛有須；而長(zhǎng)毛狗一般都攜帶FGF5基因的變種,。
研究人員還說(shuō),，狗是大約1．5萬(wàn)年前由狼演化而來(lái)，但其基因組中與皮毛特征有關(guān)的基因變化很可能在最近幾百年才開(kāi)始,。
這項(xiàng)研究成果將刊登在新一期《科學(xué)》雜志上,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Science August 27, 2009 DOI: 10.1126/science.1177808
Coat Variation in the Domestic Dog Is Governed by Variants in Three Genes
Edouard Cadieu 1, Mark Neff 2, Pascale Quignon 1, Kari Walsh 2, Kevin Chase 3, Heidi G. Parker 1, Bridgett M. VonHoldt 4, Alison Rhue 2, Adam Boyko 5, Alexandra Byers 1, Aaron Wong 2, Dana S. Mosher 1, Abdel G. Elkahloun 1, Tyrone C. Spady 1, Catherine André 6, K. Gordon Lark 3, Michelle Cargill 5, Carlos D. Bustamante 7, Robert K. Wayne 4, Elaine A. Ostrander 1*
1 National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
2 Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
3 Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
4 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
5 Department of Biological Statistics and Computational Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
6 UMR 6061, Faculté de Médecine, Rennes, France.
7 Affymetrix Corporation, Santa Clara, CA 95051, USA.; Present address: Genetics Navigenics, Inc., Foster City, CA 94404, USA.
Coat color and type are essential characteristics of domestic dog breeds. While the genetic basis of coat color has been well characterized, relatively little is known about the genes influencing coat growth pattern, length, and curl. We performed genome-wide association studies of more than 1000 dogs from 80 domestic breeds to identify genes associated with canine fur phenotypes. Taking advantage of both inter- and intrabreed variability, we identified distinct mutations in three genes, RSPO2, FGF5, and KRT71 (encoding R-spondin-2, fibroblast growth factor–5 and keratin-71, respectively), which together account for the majority of coat phenotypes in purebred dogs in the United States. This work illustrates that an array of varied and seemingly complex phenotypes can be reduced to the combinatorial effects of only a few genes.
