Genetics of Canine Behavior

Abstract

Houpt K.A.: Genetics of Canine Behavior. Acta Vet. Brno 2007, 76: 431-444. Canine behavioral genetics is a rapidly moving area of research. In this review, breed differences in behavior are emphasized. Dog professionals' opinions of the various breeds on many behavior traits reveal factors such as reactivity, aggression, ease of training and immaturity. Heritability of various behaviors -hunting ability, playfulness, and aggression to people and other dogs -has been calculated. The neurotransmitters believed to be involved in aggression are discussed. The gene for aggression remains elusive, but identifi cation of single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with breed-specifi c behavior traits are leading us in the right direction. The unique syndrome of aggression found in English Springer Spaniels may be a model for detecting the gene involved. Dog aggression, heritability, temperamentBehavior is a result of nature (genetics) and nurture (learning or experience). We shall review the history of canine behavioral genetics and explore the latest fi ndings. The publication of the canine genome allows us to make some inferences (Kirkness et al. 2003). FoxesOne of the most thorough studies of canid behavioral genetics deals with foxes, not dogs. Selection for a tame and for an aggressive strain of silver foxes over 30 years by Dmitry Belyaev and Lyudmila Trut resulted in large differences in behavior and in morphology ). The tame foxes were more likely to have spots, fl oppy ears, and curly tails. Tame and aggressive foxes have been bred and there are 300 backcross offspring . These three generation pedigrees are allowing Anna Kukekova and her colleagues at Cornell University to use linkage analysis to fi nd the gene for tameness and for aggression. The karyotypic differences between fox and dog represent 26 chromosomal fusion and four fi ssion events, so that anything learned about foxes will apply to dogs as well . Breed Differences in BehaviorThere are several approaches to classifying behaviors. We shall review four of these: breed differences in behavioral neoteny; breed differences in social signaling; breed differences in prevalence of behavior problems; and opinions of dog experts on behavioral characteristics of various breeds.There are obvious physical differences among dog breeds and, although behavior does not vary as widely as size and skeletal features, there are marked breed differences in behavior. In fact, many lectures on canine genetics begin with a statement about genetic differences in behavior, but few of the genes are known. Dr. Yukari Takeuchi and her colleagues at Tokyo University have made the most progress and we will review their fi ndings here.

Important Behavioral Traits for Predicting Guide Dog Qualification

“…Once an effective behavioral test is developed, it would be useful to examine the consistency of behavioral traits to determine whether or not these traits can be influenced by environment. Additionally, these assessable traits are expected to play a role in canine behavioral genetics [8,16], promoting the identification of temperament-associated genes [7,17,18] and contributing to the establishment of breeding protocols and the development of tailor-made training programs. By combining several assessments that focus on important behavioral traits and genetic information, it may be possible to provide an early and highly accurate prediction of guide dog qualification, which would help address the guide dog deficit.…”

Genetic background of aggressive behaviour in dogs

“…Dogs of different pure breeds have characteristic traits which allow distinguishing one breed from another. The traits do not regard only their morphology but also their behaviour (Hart and Miller 1985;Houpt 2007). This fact can lead to the conclusion that some behavioural traits such as aggression may be genetically dependent.…”

“…Aggression in vertebrates is a characteristic primitive behaviour that also occurred in their ancestors, so an underlying similarity of molecular mechanism may be expected (Nelson and Chiavegatto 2001). The tendency to aggressiveness seems to be a resultant of both environmental and genetics-related factors (Picciotto and Wickman 1998;Houpt 2007;Barsky 2010).…”

Sequences and Polymorphisms of the Canine Monoamine Transporter Genes SLC6A2, SLC6A3, and SLC6A4 among Five Dog Breeds

“…Therefore, dogs are regarded as good model for behavior genetic study [17,23], and it should be possible to identify canine temperament-associated genes by association analysis using candidate genes and genome-wide information as perfomed in human genetic studies [10,21]. Regarding candidate genes, our laboratory and other groups have reported 22 exonic polymorphisms on 10 neurotransmitter-related genes that have variable distributions among several breeds [6, 11, 14-16, 22, 27], and association have already been identified between some polymorphisms and temperament traits.…”