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The 100,000 Genomes Project
How well do you know your dog?
Alopecia in dogs – hair today, gone tomorrow!
Searching for viruses
The 100,000 Genomes Project
Our genome is all the genetic material we carry in almost all of our cells. It is estimated that one in seventeen people will have or develop a “rare” disease during their lifetime, and that over 80% of these diseases can be attributed to a genetic abnormality. Knowing the genetic sequence which makes up our genome helps us diagnose, treat and prevent disease.
The original Human Genome Project cost $3 billion, and took 10 years before the first draft of the complete sequence (all 3.2 billion base-pairs) was available. Today, the cost of sequencing the human genome is down to thousands of pounds, and can be performed in a matter of days. The Department of Health hope to advance medical knowledge through the application of modern high-throughput, low-cost sequencing technologies in an ambitious project to sequence (determine the entire genetic code) of 100,000 NHS patients.
The project aims to enable new scientific discovery and medical insights through the analysis of the information revealed in the sequences. It is hoped it will bring direct benefits to patients (both those sequenced and the wider community) through the development of better tests, treatments and prevention strategies. Additionally the project aims to help develop the UK's burgeoning genomic research industry, by increasing the utilisation of sequencing technologies, and driving the costs of these technologies down.
The project has been set up through the formation of a company, Genomics England, which is owned by the Department of Health, and which will manage sample collection, analysis and data storage. At present the project is in its pilot phase, with groups working on data and different scientific aspects of the project (cancer, rare diseases and infectious diseases), although it hopes to have completed the sequencing by 2017. To find out more about the 100,000 Genome Project, please click here.
In a Dogslife project funded by the Roslin Foundation we are aiming to sequence the genome of the Labrador Retriever, to add to the growing knowledge about the canine genome and genetic variability between dog breeds. To view our previous article about this project, please click here.
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How well do you know your dog?
Many of us think that we can tell how our dog is feeling. But how well do we really know our dog’s emotions? Sometimes their behaviour can be misread. Dogs aren’t able to explain how they feel, so in this article we try to understand what their body language is telling us.
The most obvious sign of a happy dog is one which is wagging their tail. You may also see them relaxing their ears, and some dogs lick their owners or other pets. Happy dogs may wiggle their body, hold their head up high (and their rump!) and sometimes pant excitably and have their eyes wide open.
An angry dog may bear their teeth, stiffen their tail, raise their hackles, slow their movements, or stand tall and stare. Dogs behave in this way when they feel threatened or are protecting themselves or their family. It is important to recognise when dogs are angry in order to prevent them from acting defensively (for example chasing, jumping up and biting).
Dogs can sometimes become territorial. This can be shown by them mounting or snapping at other pets or family members, urinating within the home, or guarding water and food bowls. It is important to curb this behaviour so that dogs do not become overly dominant and problematic within the home.
Dogs can also get nervous or scared and if they are feeling either of these emotions they may roll over onto their back and show their tummy, or run and hide out of sight. Some dogs may lick their lips excessively, or pull their lips back, and push their ears back behind their head, and their tail between their legs. Dogs may also look at you sideways and show the whites of their eyes, or lower their eyes. Some dogs may tremble when they are nervous or scared and may hunch their spine upwards. These emotions are unhealthy for dogs so in recognising the signs, any potential reason can be identified and the situation resolved.
Dogs may suffer from anxiety and can display behaviours such as continuous barking, destructive behaviour (for example gnawing on things in the house or in their kennel), ruin their bedding and toys, pace around, or scratch the ground forcefully. Similarly if your dog is bored they may dig the ground or chew items they shouldn’t and some may lick or scratch themselves a lot. Any anxieties dogs are suffering from (such as separation anxiety) or boredom (from lack of mental stimulation for example), are not good for their health. Any possible causes of these behaviours are best addressed so that the dog does not become more destructive or develop any psychological issues such as depression.
By learning more about how dogs convey their emotions, owners can better understand how their dog is feeling, and therefore help to meet their dog’s needs and create a safe and happy environment for everyone.
To find out more about dogs’ behaviour and emotions, please click here.
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Alopecia in dogs – hair today, gone tomorrow!
Hair loss is a relatively common disorder in dogs, which has a number of different causes. Because the majority of dogs’ skin is covered by hair, it can be very noticeable when their hair starts to be lost, and can affect multiple parts of the body. It is normal for wild dogs to moult twice a year; in Autumn and in Spring. This is associated with the loss of the summer and winter coats respectively. However, now that most domesticated dogs live in heated homes, this becomes a continual process, which most of us (and our hoovers!) are familiar with. Occasionally, dogs can be born without hair, such as those of the Chinese Crested Dog breed.
Excessive loss of hair can be caused by the hair follicle (the part of the skin in which the hair “shaft” is produced, at its base) not producing hair, or the hair shaft itself being weakened. This is often seen with skin infections, caused by bacteria, fungi or parasites (such as demodectic mange). Similarly, serious injury to the hair follicle, for example due to severe skin burns, can result in the permanent cessation of hair production; i.e. hairs may not grow back even after the burn has healed, as the healed skin contains no healthy follicles.
Hormonal diseases, such as hypothyroidism (which is a deficiency of thyroid hormone), can cause the hair follicle to slow the rate at which hairs grow, resulting in the gradual loss of hair. This is often characterised by a symmetrical pattern of hair loss on the flanks of the dog.
The hairs and follicles themselves can be healthy, but excessive trauma to them through scratching can also result in hair loss. For example, this can be seen with skin allergies. Other types of physical trauma, such as poorly fitting collars or jackets can also cause alopecia.
Because there are so many different causes of alopecia in dogs, a range of diagnostic tests are usually required to determine the cause. These can include microscopic evaluation of any remaining hairs on the affected area of skin, scrapings from the skin or biopsies of the skin. These evaluations determine whether the hair follicles are being produced or not, or are abnormal in their form, or are being broken by trauma. Cultures to look for infectious agents and blood tests to identify the levels of different hormones may be necessary. Ultimately, the treatment and prognosis for any dog with alopecia depends on the cause. A number of Dogslife members have reported their dogs to have developed alopecia, but fortunately it has been a relatively uncommon problem in the cohort so far.
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Searching for viruses
This summer Carla Rangel, an undergraduate at the University of Edinburgh spent six weeks searching for novel viruses in some of the stool samples which participants had kindly provided to the project over the last year, in the laboratory of Dr Colin Sharp at The Roslin Institute (http://www.roslin.ed.ac.uk/colin-sharp). Dr Sharp’s laboratory specialises in the discovery and characterisation of new and emerging viruses, and studying how these are associated with diseases.
A number of the samples evaluated were found to contain the DNA of the Anellovirus species. Anelloviruses are very common in other mammalian species, although they have not been associated with disease to date. Interestingly, Carla’s work has identified at least two new, previously unreported types of Anellovirus, one of which is closely related to viruses previously found only in cats. In Carla’s pilot study she did not identify any differences in the frequency with which these viruses were present in dogs with diarrhoea at the time of sampling, dogs with a history of recurrent gastrointestinal disease or dogs with no history of any gastrointestinal disease at all.
The other virus species which was identified in a number of the samples was canine coronavirus, an infection which is known to cause intestinal disease. Interestingly, although canine coronavirus is a known cause of gastrointestinal disease, it was also identified in dogs that were healthy at the time of sampling including one with no history of gastrointestinal disease. Although this study didn’t find any clear associations between the viruses studied and gastrointestinal disease, we are now in the process of trying to measure precisely how large the different virus infections are in each of the samples collected, to see if this could help to explain why some dogs with particular viruses develop diarrhoea and others do not. Thanks again to all the Dogslife members who contributed their dog’s samples to this study. We hope to update you with the findings of our next study in the near furture.
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