02800: Defining the Effect of Genotype, Breed and Age on the Risk of Developing Canine Degenerative Myelopathy and Investigating the Molecular Mechanisms Underlying That Risk

Grant Amount: $108,000

Gary S. Johnson, DVM, PhD and Joan Coates, DVM, MS; University of Missouri

April 1, 2020 - December 31, 2024

Sponsor(s): American Bloodhound Club, American Shetland Sheepdog Association, Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America, Collie Health Foundation, Great Pyrenees Club of America, Irish Setter Club of America Foundation, Inc., Joyce Baker Brown, King Fund for Wire Fox Terriers, Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club of America, SCWTCA Endowment, Inc., Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier Club of America, Inc., Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier Genetic Research Fund

Breed(s): -All Dogs

Research Program Area: Neurology

Abstract

Canine degenerative myelopathy (DM) is a progressive and inevitably fatal neurological disease affecting members of different dog breeds and mixes. It is an inherited disease with an age-related penetrance. The risk of developing the disease when dogs are homozygous for the causal SOD1 variant allele is currently unknown but of great concern to dog breeders and owners. The proposed research will further define the risk for developing DM in genetically at-risk dogs with a health survey distributed to dog owners whose dogs have been tested for the risk factor allele. This work will also examine the molecular mechanisms responsible for disease onset and spread by comparing single-nucleus RNA expression patterns in specific cell types in dorsal root ganglia from normal dogs and from affected dogs at various stages of the disease. 

Publication(s)

None at this time.