Genetic Diversity Testing for Akitas

The Veterinary Genetics Laboratory (VGL), in collaboration with Dr. Niels C. Pedersen and staff, has developed a panel of short tandem repeat (STR) markers that will determine genetic diversity across the genome and in the Dog Leukocyte Antigen (DLA) class I and II regions. This test panel will be useful to breeders who wish to track and increase genetic diversity of their breed as a long term goal.

Genetic diversity testing of Akitas is now in the preliminary results phase. During this phase, we continue to test Akitas to build genetic data necessary to provide breeders with an accurate assessment of genetic diversity in their breed. We are accepting Akitas that are registered as Japanese (AKJ), American (AKA) or mixtures (blends). These three groups will be genetically assessed as distinct “varieties” of Akitas. We have currently tested 165 dogs from all three of these groups, and the results are listed below. Allele and allele frequencies, and DLA class I and II haplotype frequencies may change somewhat as more dogs are tested. The goal is to keep testing dogs until no new genomic alleles or DLA haplotypes are recognized.

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https://smtp.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/dog/GeneticDiversityInAkitas.php