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The continued review of breed-specific tests for assigning relevancy ratings, and ongoing discussions with genetic experts has led to a refinement of the breed relevancy ratings (please see: BRR) . To better accommodate the spectrum of genetic test validation, we’ve added a new orange BRR. The orange BRR indicates where all current available evidence has been reviewed, but the relevancy is inconclusive. It could be that a mutation is detectable in a specific breed, but that there is no evidence that this correlates with clinical development of the disease/phene. It could also be that there is evidence that testing for the mutation does not correlate with the clinical development of the disease. One example is the wire-fox terrier and degenerative myelopathy. Despite research indicating a 94% mutation frequency (Zeng et. al, 2014) - meaning that practically every dog the researchers tested for SOD 1 mutation for degenerative myelopathy had 2 copies of the mutation - the development of the clinical signs of DM for the breed hasn't yet been reported. In practical terms, this means that while you may still wish to test for the mutation in your breed, or it may be included on any testing panels, there isn’t currently a good reason to prioritize test results in any breeding or other health decisions. Unnecessarily excluding a dog from breeding based on irrelevant or inconclusive test results can be, on balance, very damaging to the genetic diversity of the breed. Thinking back to DM and the wire-fox terrier, this would mean that if breeding decisions were made on DM test results alone, you'd be excluding the vast majority of the dog population where the test does not for this breed seem to predict clinical disease. For any orange BRR, it would be worth looking at the test’s breed-specific information in more detail (search for test information HERE) to help put any potential test results into perspective. Wherever possible, the phenes database includes comments directly from the researchers and original test developers. As always, talk to your genetic test provider and/or veterinary scientist if you are concerned about genetic test results. And, if you missed it the first time around, you may want to check out the previous blog including updated breed relevancy ratings, and breed-specific publications, HERE. References: Zeng R., Coates J.R., Johnson G.C., Hansen L., Awano T., Kolicheski A., Ivansson E., Perloski M., Lindblad-Toh K., O'Brien D.P., Guo J., Katz M.L., Johnson G.S. (2014) Breed Distribution of SOD1 Alleles Previously Associated with Canine Degenerative Myelopathy. J Vet Intern Med 28: 515-521 Photo thanks to: Engin Akyurt, via Pexels -
HGTD Update: 12 May 2020 Since the last blog, we’ve had additional expert review of many Breed Relevancy Ratings (BRRs) – particular in commonly tested eye conditions, and ataxias. As we are growing our expert out-reach for input into BRRs, we are pleased to note that there is consensus between experts self-reviewing their tests as well as peer-reviewing each other. This adds reassurance to us that the current BRR estimation of combining what we can learn from research publications, phene discoverer’s expert opinions, and informal peer-review between geneticists, is working. So far, we have been able to estimate BRRs for more than 1167+ of the 2684 possible breed-specific test combinations. To support BRRs, we are also adding in additional and newly published breed-specific publications and other references in the Breed Specific Information area of the generic phenes. You can find any breed-specific publications or other resources via the "Search by Test/Disease", under the Researched Breeds section. One example is for Spinocerebellar Ataxia, CAPN1-related – where you can see for 3 breeds, there are links to further information, breeding strategies, and researcher comments and publications: Check out in the HGTD by searching on Ataxia...CAPN1 HERE or go directly to the OUTPUT HERE. Our lists of peer-reviewed publications and referenes are growing by the minute. As a reminder, in the Test/Disease (Phenes) section, you can find the original mutation discovery paper (where known) as well as a selection of other relevant references. As this expands, we are exploring other ways to capture this information to be able to share it in a useful way for you. If you are a researcher, or know of a publication we don’t currently list - especially any breed-specific references, please let us know! We try to include the reference as well as links to open-access resources or a pdf, whenever possible. You can email me at aimee.llewellyn-zaidi@ipfdogs.com Terrier image by P. Kirsi, from Pexels