Homozygosity for Mobile Element Insertions Associated with WBSCR17 Could Predict Success in Assistance Dog Training Programs.

Dhriti Tandon,Andrea Papa,Kyra Ressler,Monique A R Udell,Carol Borden,Rebecca Y Kartzinel,Riley Wilkinson,Daniel Petticord,Elaine A Ostrander,Bridgett M Vonholdt,Nathaniel Burney,Juliana Jiranek

doi:10.3390/genes10060439

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©). We found a positive correlation between insertions at Cfa6.6 and dog separation distress in the form of restlessness when about to be left alone by the owner. Lastly, assistance dogs showed significant heterozygosity deficiency at locus Cfa6.6 and higher frequency of insertions at Cfa6.6 and Cfa6.7. We suggest that training programs could utilize this genetic survey to screen for MEIs at WBSCR17 to identify dogs with sociable traits compatible with successful assistance dog performance.

Highlights

Genome-wide approaches have increased in their application for exploring the molecular basis of animal behavior and personality
Our objective was to elucidate whether increased mobile element insertions (MEIs) with hypersociability genes (WBSCR17, GTF2I, and POM121) on canine chromosome 6 (Cfa6) correspond to hypersocial behaviors in dogs as quantified by the C-BARQ©
We further investigated if the frequency of these MEIs differed between assistance and pet dogs to understand whether MEI screening of dogs could predict social behavior in adult behavior as reported by the C-BARQ©

Summary

Introduction

Genome-wide approaches have increased in their application for exploring the molecular basis of animal behavior and personality. In contrast to many dog morphological traits, which have been successfully mapped to genetic variants [1,2,3], efforts to understand the causal genetic variants of dog temperament and personality are relatively new As dog personality varies with age [7], behavioral assays likely face reduced accuracy for predicting adult behavior when conducted during sub-adult developmental stages [8,9,10]. These limitations are compounded by the reliance of matching behavioral assays with the targeted dog behavioral traits, often with behavioral observations recorded by a non-specialist who has spent limited time with the study subject [11,12,13]

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