What many of us having been waiting for has arrived: Dr. Niels Pedersen's results from the genetic profile of over 800 Standard Poodles, which our poodles at Poodle Dynasty were fortunate to participate in. You can read the paper here:.
"The effect of genetic bottlenecks and inbreeding on the incidence of two major autoimmune diseases in standard poodles, sebaceous adenitis and Addison’s disease" by Dr. Niels Pedersen, et al in Canine Genetics and Epidemiology
Basically, it tells us that too much inbreeding of Standard Poodles correlates to a greater preponderance of autoimmune disorders. Autoimmune disorders, such as Addison's and S.A., are the leading health issues with Standard Poodles and there is NO genetic health tests for autoimmune disorders. Dr. Niel Pederson, Professor Emeritus, School of Medicine & Epidemiology at University of California at Davis, found in previous research where he was looking for a genetic component with S.A. in Standard Poodles, that autoimmune disorders in poodles are environmentally triggered. As a result, there will not be genetic tests for us to wait for scientists to develop, since there is an environmental variable that health testing cannot reveal.
Pertinent things we can glean from the paper is that 30% of the Standard Poodle population is genetically diverse and it's much less likely that they will have autoimmune disorders. Again, we are fortunate that our poodles at Poodle Dynasty are in that 30% portion of the genetically diverse poodle population. Our poodles' genome-wide, DNA assessment from UC Davis, Veterinary Genetics Laboratory (VGL) is at the bottom of their profile page.
Pertinent things we can glean from the paper is that 30% of the Standard Poodle population is genetically diverse and it's much less likely that they will have autoimmune disorders. Again, we are fortunate that our poodles at Poodle Dynasty are in that 30% portion of the genetically diverse poodle population. Our poodles' genome-wide, DNA assessment from UC Davis, Veterinary Genetics Laboratory (VGL) is at the bottom of their profile page.
Summary Excerpt for Dr. Pedersen's Research Paper
Lay summary:
Standard Poodles suffer from a long list of autoimmune diseases including immune mediated hemolytic anemia, immune mediated thrombocytopenia, Evan’s syndrome, immune pancytopenia, chronic thyroiditis, temporal-mandibular myositis, and chronic active hepatitis. However, the two most vexing autoimmune disorders are sebaceous adenitis (SA) and Addison’s disease (AD). There has been a general belief that SA and AD entered the breed as a result of extensive inbreeding starting in the middle of the twentieth century that involved a small group of founders that produced show winning offspring. These offspring and their descendants were widely used by Standard Poodle breeders in North America and exported to the UK, Scandinavia, Australia Continental Europe. This artificial midcentury bottleneck (MCB) has created a severe imbalance and probable loss of genetic diversity. Using genetic tests based on 33 genome-wide and seven dog leukocyte antigen (DLA) class I and II short tandem repeat (STR) markers, we were able to study genetic diversity in poodles from the USA, Canada and Europe. Standard Poodles from all of these geographic regions were closely related, indicating a considerable ongoing transoceanic exchange of dogs. Although Standard Poodles still possess considerable total diversity, 70 % of this diversity resides in only 30 % of the population. This imbalance in diversity was both evident across the genome as well as in the DLA class I and II regions, the latter often associated with autoimmune disease. SA and AD entered the breed through different lines and at different times, but the traits underlying these diseases were more likely ancestral in many dog breeds and inadvertently concentrated as a result of the MCB. The DLA was not strongly implicated in either SA or AD, although several less common haplotypes conferred a moderate degree of risk or protection for one or the other disease, and dogs with minor DLA haplotypes were less prone to SA and AD than dogs with major haplotypes. It may be possible to re-distribute the genetic diversity in the breed with judicious mate selection based on genetic testing over a number of generations. Such an undertaking should reduce the incidence of deleterious simple recessive traits and complex genetic disorders such as autoimmune disease. The emphasis of mate selection should be on maximizing genetic differences by augmenting information gained from pedigrees with genetic tests that more accurately measure genetic diversity across the genome. This study also documented the current use of Miniature Poodles as outcrosses, which are genetically distinct and relatively free of SA and AD.
Standard Poodles suffer from a long list of autoimmune diseases including immune mediated hemolytic anemia, immune mediated thrombocytopenia, Evan’s syndrome, immune pancytopenia, chronic thyroiditis, temporal-mandibular myositis, and chronic active hepatitis. However, the two most vexing autoimmune disorders are sebaceous adenitis (SA) and Addison’s disease (AD). There has been a general belief that SA and AD entered the breed as a result of extensive inbreeding starting in the middle of the twentieth century that involved a small group of founders that produced show winning offspring. These offspring and their descendants were widely used by Standard Poodle breeders in North America and exported to the UK, Scandinavia, Australia Continental Europe. This artificial midcentury bottleneck (MCB) has created a severe imbalance and probable loss of genetic diversity. Using genetic tests based on 33 genome-wide and seven dog leukocyte antigen (DLA) class I and II short tandem repeat (STR) markers, we were able to study genetic diversity in poodles from the USA, Canada and Europe. Standard Poodles from all of these geographic regions were closely related, indicating a considerable ongoing transoceanic exchange of dogs. Although Standard Poodles still possess considerable total diversity, 70 % of this diversity resides in only 30 % of the population. This imbalance in diversity was both evident across the genome as well as in the DLA class I and II regions, the latter often associated with autoimmune disease. SA and AD entered the breed through different lines and at different times, but the traits underlying these diseases were more likely ancestral in many dog breeds and inadvertently concentrated as a result of the MCB. The DLA was not strongly implicated in either SA or AD, although several less common haplotypes conferred a moderate degree of risk or protection for one or the other disease, and dogs with minor DLA haplotypes were less prone to SA and AD than dogs with major haplotypes. It may be possible to re-distribute the genetic diversity in the breed with judicious mate selection based on genetic testing over a number of generations. Such an undertaking should reduce the incidence of deleterious simple recessive traits and complex genetic disorders such as autoimmune disease. The emphasis of mate selection should be on maximizing genetic differences by augmenting information gained from pedigrees with genetic tests that more accurately measure genetic diversity across the genome. This study also documented the current use of Miniature Poodles as outcrosses, which are genetically distinct and relatively free of SA and AD.
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