FLICKR, LIL SHEPHERDDog obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) manifests itself in a variety of telltale behaviors—incessant tail chasing and chewing, to name a couple. Doberman Pinschers, bullterriers, Shetland sheepdogs, and German shepherds all have relatively high rates of the anxiety disorder. Now, examining the genomes of Dobermans, researchers have identified four genes connected to the disorder in dogs, possibly leading clues for what to look for in the human genome. The work was published in Genome Biology this week (February 16).
Comparing portions of 90 genomes of Dobermans suffering from OCD with 60 healthy Dobermans, Elinor Karlsson from the Broad Institute and Harvard University and her colleagues noted several key differences. Scanning the genomes of bullterriers, Shetland sheepdogs, and German shepherds, the researchers narrowed the field down to four genes with high rates of mutations in dogs that tend to exhibit OCD behaviors.
“This is really exciting because psychiatric diseases tend to be very heritable, but finding genes associated with psychiatric diseases in humans has been really difficult,” Karlsson told Discovery News. “The question is: Can we use genetics to pinpoint what the brain pathways are that are going wrong in these diseases? And can we design drugs that target those pathways in ways that are ...
