title: Canine olfactory receptor gene polymorphism and its relation to odor detection performance by sniffer dogs.
abstract: The outstanding sensitivity of the canine olfactory system has been acknowledged by using sniffer dogs in military and civilian service for detection of a variety of odors. It is hypothesized that the canine olfactory ability is determined by polymorphisms in olfactory receptor (OR) genes. We investigated 5 OR genes for polymorphic sites which might affect the olfactory ability of service dogs in different fields of specific substance detection. All investigated OR DNA sequences proved to have allelic variants, the majority of which lead to protein sequence alteration. Homozygous individuals at 2 gene loci significantly differed in their detection skills from other genotypes. This suggests a role of specific alleles in odor detection and a linkage between single-nucleotide polymorphism and odor recognition efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzebiec, Postepu 1, 05-552 Wolka Kosowska, Poland. anna.lesniak@cmdik.pan.pl
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lesniak
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walczak
authors.forename: Tadeusz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jezierski
authors.forename: Mariusz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sacharczuk
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gawkowski
authors.forename: Kazimierz
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jaszczak
mesh_terms: D000225:Adenine; D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D004285:Dogs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D053834:Explosive Agents / Q000032:analysis; D006147:Guanine; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D016495:Police; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000235:genetics*; D012903:Smell / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D053834:Explosive Agents; D018035:Receptors, Odorant; D006147:Guanine; D000225:Adenine