Abstract
The structure of the leptin gene seems to be well conserved. The polymorphism of this gene in four species belonging to the Canidae family (the dog (Canis familiaris) – 16 different breeds, the Chinese racoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides procyonoides), the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the arctic fox (Alopex lagopus)) were studied with the use of single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and DNA sequencing techniques. For exon 2, all species presented the same SSCP pattern, while in exon 3 some differences were found. DNA sequencing of exon 3 revealed the presence of six nucleotide substitutions, differentiating the studied species. Three of them cause amino acid substitutions as well. For all dog breeds studied, SSCP patterns were identical.
Highlights
The Canidae family consists of 36 species and can be divided into three groups: the red fox-like canids, the South American foxes and the wolf-like canids
Our goal was to determine intraspecies polymorphisms in the coding sequence of the canine leptin gene and the detection of a mutation which occurred in the course of evolution in selected species of the Canidae family: the domestic dog (Canis familiaris), the Chinese racoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides procyonoides), the arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) and the red fox (Vulpes vulpes)
DNA samples from 35 dogs representing 16 breeds, as well as 15 arctic foxes, 15 red foxes and 12 racoon dogs were used in screening for leptin gene variants
Summary
The Canidae family consists of 36 species and can be divided into three groups: the red fox-like canids (e.g. the red and Arctic fox), the South American foxes (e.g. pampas fox) and the wolf-like canids. The species such as the racoon dog and the bat-eared fox are monotypic genera and represent distinct lineages [21]. The most phenotypically diverse canid is the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) [20]. The high degree of intrabreed homogeneity makes the dog an attractive model for studying hereditary diseases [15] and the correlation between genotype and phenotype, especially concerning body size and shape
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