Coming Up, Custom-made Pet Dogs

Pet Care

oi-Staff

By Super

Wednesday, May 30, 2012, 11:18

You can now have your pet dog 'custom made' suiting your taste. The genetically engineered pooches can be created with specific traits like size, color, perhaps even temperament, says a new study. This technology is different from the biological approach to create hybrids.

A specific group of genes have been discovered by the geneticist while analyzing the dog's genome. These specific genes are responsible for the coat color, variations in size, as well as some congenital diseases.

However, the prospect of creating genetically engineered dogs will not go on the floor for ethical reasons, as stated by Elaine Ostrander from National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda Marlyand. Ostrander is a pioneering dog geneticist.

However, some breeders utilise the genetic testing specifically to avoid mating dogs that will spawn puppies with congenital diseases, as in the case of Labrador retrievers with two mutations in a gene called dynamin-1 suffer from a condition where intense activity causes them to lose nerve control of their hind limbs.

As told by Ostrander, the new technique can be used to avoid the unnecessary mutation over drive.