The Genetic Origin of Short Tail in Endangered Korean Dog, DongGyeongi

Abstract

The tail of many animal species is responsible for various physiological functions. The functional importance of tail may have brought tail-loss to attention in many evolutionary and developmental studies. To provide a better explanation for the loss of tail, the current study aims to identify the evolutionary history and putative causal variants for the short tail in DongGyeongi (DG), an endangered dog breed, which is also the only dog in Korea that possesses a short tail. Whole genome sequencing was conducted on 22 samples of DG, followed by an investigation of population stratification with 10 other dog breeds. The genotypes, selective sweep and demography of DG were also investigated. As a result, we discovered the unique genetic structure of DG and suggested two possible ways in which the short tail phenotype developed. Moreover, this study suggested that selective sweep genes, ANKRD11 and ACVR2B may contribute to the reduction in tail length, and non-synonymous variant in the coding sequence of T gene and the CpG island variant of SFRP2 gene are the candidate causal variants for the tail-loss.

Prominent and elongated coccyx, a new manifestation of KBG syndrome associated with novel mutation in ANKRD11

“…This finding challenges the notion that a genetic investigation is complete after a single diagnosis is obtained (Boycott & Innes, ). It is however noteworthy that in the traditional Korean DongGyeongi dog, the characteristic tail loss has been imputed to selective sweep genes including ANKRD11 (Yoo et al, ), thus indeed suggesting a role of this gene in coccyx development. Accordingly, KBG syndrome has to be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with an elongated and prominent coccyx.…”

Studies of modern Italian dog populations reveal multiple patterns for domestic breed evolution

“…Additionally, seven local landrace populations, defined as distinct dog varieties unique to a specific geographic region with historically limited breeding populations, are included in this study. The latter are not recognized by any purebred canine registry but, nonetheless, may display a genetic pattern consistent with other purebreeds (Alam, Han, Lee, Ha, & Kim, 2012;Puja et al, 2005;Tanabe, 2007;Wijnrocx, Francois, Stinckens, Janssens, & Buys, 2016; Yoo et al, 2017), such as has been observed for one Italian regional population, the Fonni's Dog Dreger, Rimbault, et al, 2016;Sechi et al, 2016). By focusing our analyses on breeds with diverse phenotypes that have all originated in a single country, we aim to employ genetic data to expand upon historical breed formation accounts and define the modes by which humans have produced recognizable and diversified dog breeds.…”

Functional and evolutionary analysis of Korean bob-tailed native dog using whole-genome sequencing data

“…The genome sequencing data of Donggyeong dogs with different tail lengths [long tail, N = 7 (~20 coccygeal bones); short tail, N = 5 (5~7 coccygeal bones); non-tail, N = 10 (2~3 coccygeal bones)] was obtained from a recent study 16 . The genome sequencing data of additional 12 dog breeds [Diqing village dog, German shepherd, Kunming dog, Lijiang village dog, Tibetan mastiff, and Yingjiang village dog (N = 10 for each breed), Indian village dog (N = 3), Lebanon village dog (N = 1), modern European breed (N = 1), Nambia village dog (N = 1), Portugal village dog (N = 2), and Vietnam village dog (N = 2)], which was used in another recent study 19 , was downloaded from the NCBI SRA database ( http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra ; SRA accession numbers are in Supplementary Table 9 ).…”

“…To preserve unique features of Donggyeong dog, studies have been performed by cloning 15 . Recently, whole-genome sequencing data of 22 Donggyeong dogs was generated, and their unique genetic structure and the development of short tail phenotype were investigated 16 .…”

“…The objective of this study was to perform further functional and evolutionary analysis of Donggyeong dog using whole-genome sequencing data 16 . Specifically, genomic features of three different Donggyeong dog populations based on tail length (long, short, and non-tail) were determined and the evolution of protein interactions compared to related dog breeds (a total of 12 breeds) and related species (a total of 10 species) was analyzed.…”