Idiopathic Epilepsy Risk Allele Trends in Belgian Tervuren: A Longitudinal Genetic Analysis

Overview

Journal Genes (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Date 2024 Jan 23

PMID 38255002

Authors

Nathan Kinsey

Janelle M Belanger

Paul J J Mandigers

Peter A Leegwater

Tiina Heinonen

Marjo K Hytonen

Hannes Lohi

Elaine A Ostrander

Anita M Oberbauer

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Idiopathic epilepsy (IE) has been known to be inherited in the Belgian Tervuren for many decades. Risk genotypes for IE in this breed have recently been identified on Canis familiaris chromosomes (CFA) 14 and 37. In the current study, the allele frequencies of these loci were analyzed to determine whether dog breeders had employed a purposeful selection against IE, leading to a reduction in risk-associated allele frequency within the breed over time. The allele frequencies of two generational groupings of Belgian Tervuren with and without IE were compared. Allele frequencies for risk-associated alleles on CFA14 were unchanged between 1985 and 2015, whereas those on CFA37 increased during that time in the control population ( < 0.05). In contrast, dogs with IE showed a decrease ( < 0.05) in the IE risk-associated allele frequency at the CFA37 locus. Seizure prevalence in the Belgian Tervuren appears to be increasing. These results suggest that, despite awareness that IE is inherited, selection against IE has not been successful.

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