Variation in breeding practices and geographic isolation drive subpopulation differentiation, contributing to the loss of genetic diversity within dog breed lineages

Background Discrete breed ideals are not restricted to delimiting dog breeds from another, but also are key drivers of subpopulation differentiation. As genetic differentiation due to population fragmentation results in increased rates of inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity, detecting and alleviating the reasons of population fragmentation can provide effective tools for the maintenance of healthy dog breeds. Results Using a genome-wide SNP array, we detected genetic differentiation to subpopulations in six breeds, Belgian Shepherd, English Greyhound, Finnish Lapphund, Italian Greyhound,... Mehr ...