03098-A: Genotyping for the Canine Dal Blood Group

Grant Status: Open

Grant Amount: $15,979
Marie-Claude Blais, DVM; University of Montreal
February 1, 2023 - March 31, 2025

Sponsor(s):

Breed(s): Dalmatian, Doberman Pinscher, Shih Tzu
Research Program Area: Blood Disorders
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Abstract

While 98% of the canine population is Dal-positive, Dal-negative dogs are common in Dalmatians (11.7%), Doberman Pinschers (42.4%) and possibly Shih Tzu (57.1%), for whom finding compatible blood may be challenging given the rarity of Dal-negative blood donors and limited access to Dal blood typing. The genes controlling blood group antigens have been genetically identified in humans and recently in cats. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is now a feasible approach to identify the genes responsible for specific canine blood groups. Therefore, the objective of this study is to, using WGS, identify the genes associated to the Dal blood group to allow genotyping. Given that the Dal-negative blood group is a recessive trait, investigators propose to generate WGS with DNA extracted from unrelated Dal-negative dogs of various breeds, including the Doberman Pinscher, Dalmatian, Shih Tzu, and Beagle. Likewise, because >98% of the >4,000 WGS datasets downloaded from the NCBI Sequence Read Archives are predicted to be Dal-positive, they will serve as "positive controls". First, blood will be collected from client-owned dogs of selected breeds to perform Dal blood typing at the University of Montreal and identify Dal-negative individuals. Second, DNA will be isolated at the University of Missouri (MU) from whole blood from 10 Dal-negative dogs (2-3 unrelated dogs of each breed) and submitted for WGS at the MU Genomics Technology Core Facility. The capacity to genotype for Dal blood group may eventually improve screening of breeds with an increased prevalence of Dal-negative individuals and canine blood donors, as well as facilitate investigation of its molecular structure.

Publication(s)

None at this time.

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