New tests answer the question: 'What is that mutt?'
Posted: Saturday, October 06, 2007
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Fido may not care, but there's an identity crisis that afflicts millions and it's often touched off by a tame question: "What kind of dog is that?"
Now, the growing availability of high-tech DNA tests is giving dog owners long baffled over the makeup of their mutts something more to offer than a shrug, a shake of the head and a woeful "Who knows?"
For years, owners have been able to get dogs tested to prove they are the offspring of parents that breeders said there were.
But now, using DNA technology normally associated with crime-solving and paternity suits, new doggie tests can determine what mutts are made of. The tests, which cost as little as $65, are the result of several years of work by scientists who gathered a large pool of DNA samples from thousands of dogs to create a sort of genetic roadmap of breeds.
The scientists also pinpointed DNA markers that help tell breeds apart. In the new testing, those markers are checked against the thousands of DNA samples to find out Fido's ancestry.
A new test unveiled late last month by Virginia-based Mars Veterinary uses DNA from blood samples taken by veterinarians and sent to a lab in Lincoln. Within four to six weeks the genetic puzzle is solved for the dogs' owners.
The method can test for 134 of the 157 dog breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club. The company plans to have data for all the breeds by the end of this year, said Paul Jones, a scientist in England who led the method's development.
Another test that covers 38 breeds and doesn't require a trip to the vet has been on the market since early this year.
Officials with its owner, Beltsville, Md.-based MetaMorphix, wouldn't release sales figures. But they salivate at the potential, pointing to the booming, $40 billion-a-year pet industry and the fact that roughly half of the 65 million pet dogs in the U.S. are mutts.
By the end of the year, MetaMorphix hopes to test for 115 breeds.
"People spend hundreds of dollars a month on accessories for their dogs," said Brad Mitchell of MMI Genomics, a subsidiary of MetaMorphix. "We kept saying this is going to be big, this is going to be big."
Mars Veterinary officials say 86 percent of mutt owners don't know which breeds are in their dogs' backgrounds and that consumer surveys they conducted show 60 percent of mutt owners would like to know.
Unlike the blood test required for the Mars procedure, DNA samples in the MetaMorphix test are collected by dog owners. They dab a swab on the inside of their pets' mouths, then mail the samples to a lab.
"We thought it was silly," said Kathie Svoboda of Lincoln.
But her daughter in San Francisco wanted to unlock the family dog's hidden canine heritage, so Svoboda did the swab test.
Rascal's mom had looked like Lassie, the famous movie and TV collie, Svoboda said. But clearly the mom had had a liaison with something other than another collie, something she said was apparent in Rascal's ears.
After a few weeks, the test results came back showing Rascal had collie and cocker spaniel, as suspected, along with a twist -- Shetland sheepdog.
Not everybody is convinced the mutt mix business will take off.
"I think most people interested in a mixed-breed dog wouldn't want to pay the price" for the tests, said Richard Oberst, a veterinarian and professor at Kansas State University.
The cost of a cheek-swab test is $65; the cost of the blood test is up to vets but could range between $100 and $200.
Like most procedures, there are limitations.
Because DNA gets more muddied with each generation, great-grandparents are the oldest relatives that can be mixed breeds themselves in order to secure a reliable answer for the mixed breed in question.
If the great-great-grandparents were mutts, too?
"You'd probably end up getting a refund," said Jones, the English scientist.
Now, the growing availability of high-tech DNA tests is giving dog owners long baffled over the makeup of their mutts something more to offer than a shrug, a shake of the head and a woeful "Who knows?"
For years, owners have been able to get dogs tested to prove they are the offspring of parents that breeders said there were.
But now, using DNA technology normally associated with crime-solving and paternity suits, new doggie tests can determine what mutts are made of. The tests, which cost as little as $65, are the result of several years of work by scientists who gathered a large pool of DNA samples from thousands of dogs to create a sort of genetic roadmap of breeds.
The scientists also pinpointed DNA markers that help tell breeds apart. In the new testing, those markers are checked against the thousands of DNA samples to find out Fido's ancestry.
A new test unveiled late last month by Virginia-based Mars Veterinary uses DNA from blood samples taken by veterinarians and sent to a lab in Lincoln. Within four to six weeks the genetic puzzle is solved for the dogs' owners.
The method can test for 134 of the 157 dog breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club. The company plans to have data for all the breeds by the end of this year, said Paul Jones, a scientist in England who led the method's development.
Another test that covers 38 breeds and doesn't require a trip to the vet has been on the market since early this year.
Officials with its owner, Beltsville, Md.-based MetaMorphix, wouldn't release sales figures. But they salivate at the potential, pointing to the booming, $40 billion-a-year pet industry and the fact that roughly half of the 65 million pet dogs in the U.S. are mutts.
By the end of the year, MetaMorphix hopes to test for 115 breeds.
"People spend hundreds of dollars a month on accessories for their dogs," said Brad Mitchell of MMI Genomics, a subsidiary of MetaMorphix. "We kept saying this is going to be big, this is going to be big."
Mars Veterinary officials say 86 percent of mutt owners don't know which breeds are in their dogs' backgrounds and that consumer surveys they conducted show 60 percent of mutt owners would like to know.
Unlike the blood test required for the Mars procedure, DNA samples in the MetaMorphix test are collected by dog owners. They dab a swab on the inside of their pets' mouths, then mail the samples to a lab.
"We thought it was silly," said Kathie Svoboda of Lincoln.
But her daughter in San Francisco wanted to unlock the family dog's hidden canine heritage, so Svoboda did the swab test.
Rascal's mom had looked like Lassie, the famous movie and TV collie, Svoboda said. But clearly the mom had had a liaison with something other than another collie, something she said was apparent in Rascal's ears.
After a few weeks, the test results came back showing Rascal had collie and cocker spaniel, as suspected, along with a twist -- Shetland sheepdog.
Not everybody is convinced the mutt mix business will take off.
"I think most people interested in a mixed-breed dog wouldn't want to pay the price" for the tests, said Richard Oberst, a veterinarian and professor at Kansas State University.
The cost of a cheek-swab test is $65; the cost of the blood test is up to vets but could range between $100 and $200.
Like most procedures, there are limitations.
Because DNA gets more muddied with each generation, great-grandparents are the oldest relatives that can be mixed breeds themselves in order to secure a reliable answer for the mixed breed in question.
If the great-great-grandparents were mutts, too?
"You'd probably end up getting a refund," said Jones, the English scientist.
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melissa (vetassist03@netzero.net wrote on Oct 7, 2007 11:59 PM: