Firstly, there is high genetic homology between the human and
dog genome, compared to other animals.
Ostrander, PhD, researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), review progress in defining the genes and pathways that determine canine skull shape and development that have been made in the eight years since the
dog genome was mapped.
Then, the starch-tolerant changes might have arisen in the
dog genome as they, along with their new masters, adopted a more agrarian diet.
The analysis revealed that "only six or seven locations in the
dog genome are necessary to explain about 80 percent of the differences in height and weight among dog breeds," Bustamante continued.
* An international consortium, led by researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, announces the completion of the
dog genome sequence.
To understand how the dog species became so physically diverse, Ostrander is heading the
Dog Genome Project at NHGRI.
By knowing the
dog genome, researchers may find disease genes affecting people, says Kerstin Lindblad-Toh of the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass.
A rap called "Doggin' Genes," written and performed by Heather Earp and Hana Fallisgaard of Shorecrest High School, described the sequencing the
dog genome. A two-person play about genetic testing, written and performed by Maya Sugarman and Rhiannon Bronstein of Garfield High School, explored the quandaries of undergoing genetic testing for a disease for which there is no cure.
A project to map the human genome was completed last year, and the
dog genome is expected to be mapped later this year.
Researchers have pieced together a draft of the
dog genome, the sequence of DNA units that includes air the genetic instructions for making a dog.
The scientists were working on the
dog genome project, which is similar to its larger cousin, the Human Genome Project.