title: Allelic variation of the D4 dopamine receptor polymorphic region in two dog breeds, Golden retriever and Shiba.
abstract: The D4 dopamine receptor (D4DR) polymorphic region, which is possibly related to the personality trait known as novelty seeking in humans, was examined in 34 dogs from two breeds (Golden retriever and the Japanese indigenous breed, Shiba) by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the DNA sequences of each allele were determined. The polymorphic region of the dog D4DR gene was composed of 39- and 12- base pair (bp) units, and four alleles (A-D) were identified based on the number and/or order of these units. Intra- and inter-breed allele variations were observed. The frequency of the short A allele was dominant (78.9%) in the Golden retriever, while the long D allele was most common (46.7%) in the Shiba. These findings suggested that the allele frequency varied significantly between different breeds, and that analysis of the polymorphism in D4DR might be of use for understanding the behavioral traits of dogs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Diversity and Resources, Faculty of Agriculture, Gifi University, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Niimi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inoue-Murayama
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Murayama
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001947:Breeding; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D004285:Dogs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; D004247:DNA