{"id":17734,"date":"2017-09-04T09:00:34","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/?p=17734"},"modified":"2017-09-04T09:00:34","modified_gmt":"2017-09-04T13:00:34","slug":"dogs-best-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/dogs-best-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"Dog&#039;s Best Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div id='fullscreen_slider_1'  class='avia-fullscreen-slider main_color   avia-builder-el-0  el_before_av_one_fifth  avia-builder-el-first   container_wrap sidebar_right' style=' '  ><a href='#next-section' title='' class='scroll-down-link av-control-default' aria-hidden='true' data-av_icon='\ue877' data-av_iconfont='entypo-fontello'><\/a><div   data-size='no scaling'  data-lightbox_size='large'  data-animation='slide'  data-conditional_play=''  data-ids='17746'  data-video_counter='0'  data-autoplay='false'  data-bg_slider='true'  data-slide_height='100'  data-handle='av_fullscreen'  data-interval='5'  data-class=' '  data-el_id=''  data-css_id='fullscreen_slider_1'  data-scroll_down='aviaTBscroll_down'  data-control_layout='av-control-default'  data-custom_markup=''  data-perma_caption=''  data-autoplay_stopper=''  data-image_attachment='scroll'  data-min_height='0px'  data-stretch=''  class='avia-slideshow avia-slideshow-1 av-slider-scroll-down-active av-control-default av-default-height-applied avia-slideshow-no scaling av_fullscreen   avia-slide-slider '  itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\" ><ul class='avia-slideshow-inner ' style='padding-bottom: 50.0333333333%;' ><li style='background-position:top left;' data-img-url='https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Lead-2.jpg' class=' av-single-slide slide-1 ' ><div data-rel='slideshow-1' class='avia-slide-wrap '   ><div class = \"caption_fullwidth av-slideshow-caption caption_center\"><div class = \"container caption_container\"><div class = \"slideshow_caption\"><div class = \"slideshow_inner_caption\"><div class = \"slideshow_align_caption\"><h2  class='avia-caption-title  '  itemprop=\"name\" >Dog\u2019s Best Friend<\/h2><div class='avia-caption-content  '  itemprop=\"description\"  ><p>A geneticist makes strides in understanding<br \/>\na complex disorder affecting canines and humans.<br \/>\nBy Clinton Colmenares<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><div id='after_full_slider_1'  class='main_color av_default_container_wrap container_wrap sidebar_right' style=' '  ><div class='container' ><div class='template-page content  av-content-small alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-17734'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_one_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-1  el_after_av_fullscreen  el_before_av_three_fifth  avia-builder-el-first  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><\/div><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_three_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-2  el_after_av_one_fifth  el_before_av_one_fifth  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '  style='font-size:14px; '  itemprop=\"text\" ><h5>\u201cLassie, come home!\u201d<\/h5>\n<p>But first, Clemson genetics researcher Leigh Anne Clark, would like to get a cheek swab to study your genes.<br \/>\nAnyone who has had a 5-pound Yorkie or 90-pound Lab nudge her hand, requesting a scratch under the chin or a rub of the ears, or a rescue mutt who\u2019s been more faithful than friends or family, would be pleased knowing geneticists like Clark are working tirelessly to understand the underpinnings of diseases that affect dogs.<br \/>\nClark has a simple explanation for her team\u2019s work: \u201cWe like dogs.\u201d<br \/>\nOver the past decade and a half, Clark, with her colleagues and students, has discovered genes in collies like Lassie and Shetland sheepdogs (aka shelties) that explain a variety of traits in the two breeds. In February 2017 the scientific journal, PLoS Genetics, published the results of her most recent research: the identification of two new genes associated with a painful and disfiguring disorder called dermatomyositis.<br \/>\nThere are ramifications for humans, too, in Clark\u2019s research. Pigment disorders affecting dogs and humans are often accompanied by hearing and vision difficulties. Understanding the genetic underpinnings of pigmentation in dogs could help scientists understand diseases in humans such as vitiligo. Dermatomyositis, an autoimmune disorder, affects collies and shelties almost exclusively, making them the only animal model for the human form of the disease.<br \/>\nJuvenile dermatomyositis occurs in several thousand children a year in the United States, creating a skin rash and inflammation that weakens muscles and makes joints sore. In adults, dermatomyositis strikes between ages 40 and 60. In addition to a rash and progressively weakening muscles, adults with the disease have a higher risk of cancer, lung disease and heart disease.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Studying human dermatomyositis is difficult; studying the disease in dogs is much simpler. There\u2019s a lot of genetic diversity among people, which is healthy for the long-term resilience of the human race, but confusing when trying to pin down genes associated with a specific disease. In humans, the disease presents differently from person to person, and there\u2019s a lack of biological data to study. With collies and shelties, the genetic pool is much smaller, making it easier to isolate genes specifically associated with the disease.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/clemson.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Watson.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17743\" src=\"https:\/\/clemson.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Watson.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https:\/\/clemsonworld.wpenginepowered.com\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Watson.jpg 800w, https:\/\/clemsonworld.wpenginepowered.com\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Watson-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/clemsonworld.wpenginepowered.com\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Watson-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/clemsonworld.wpenginepowered.com\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Watson-705x471.jpg 705w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h5>Breeding genetics<\/h5>\n<p>Clark became a fan of the TV show \u201cLassie\u201d when she was a little girl growing up in Austin, Texas. \u201cI thought that was the greatest dog,\u201d she says. Who could argue? Well, Clark\u2019s mother did. After years of Leigh Anne\u2019s begging for a collie, her mother finally acquiesced \u2014 sort of. The family adopted a Shetland sheepdog, which looks like a miniature collie.<br \/>\nBut that one sheltie wasn\u2019t enough for Clark. She continued to go back to the breeder where she\u2019d gotten the sheltie to visit new puppies.<br \/>\n\u201cDuring one visit, the breeder asked if I\u2019d like to help on the weekends,\u201d Clark says. \u201cBasically, he needed another set of hands to help with the puppies. I eagerly said yes!\u201d<br \/>\nBeing around the breeding practice introduced her to genetics. At Texas A&amp;M (where, coincidentally, the mascot is a collie named Reveille), Clark worked with Keith Murphy, who served as her doctoral adviser and her boss during her postdoctoral fellowship. Murphy would later become chair of the department of genetics at Clemson and recruit Clark to the Clemson faculty.<br \/>\nClark was fascinated by the work of a veterinary dermatologist on the faculty, Christine Rees, who was leading a clinical trial of improved therapies for dogs with dermatomyositis.<br \/>\n\u201cEvery month, this group of affected collies and shelties would come in, and she would try these new therapies,\u201d Clark says. \u201cWe got together and decided this was a good opportunity to understand the genetics of the disease. If we can understand the genetics of the disease, then rather than treating the disease we could eliminate it altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div><div class=\"flex_column av_one_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-4  el_after_av_three_fifth  el_before_av_fullscreen  avia-builder-el-last  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><\/div><br \/>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- close content main div --><\/div><\/div><div id='fullscreen_slider_2'  class='avia-fullscreen-slider main_color   avia-builder-el-5  el_after_av_one_fifth  el_before_av_one_fifth   slider-not-first container_wrap sidebar_right' style=' '  ><a href='#next-section' title='' class='scroll-down-link av-control-default' aria-hidden='true' data-av_icon='\ue877' data-av_iconfont='entypo-fontello'><\/a><div   data-size='no scaling'  data-lightbox_size='large'  data-animation='slide'  data-conditional_play=''  data-ids=''  data-video_counter='1'  data-autoplay='false'  data-bg_slider='true'  data-slide_height='100'  data-handle='av_fullscreen'  data-interval='5'  data-class=' '  data-el_id=''  data-css_id='fullscreen_slider_2'  data-scroll_down='aviaTBscroll_down'  data-control_layout='av-control-default'  data-custom_markup=''  data-perma_caption=''  data-autoplay_stopper=''  data-image_attachment=''  data-min_height='0px'  data-stretch=''  class='avia-slideshow avia-slideshow-2 av-slider-scroll-down-active av-control-default avia-slideshow-no scaling av_fullscreen   avia-slide-slider '  itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\" ><ul class='avia-slideshow-inner '  ><li  data-controls='' data-mute='' data-loop='' data-disable-autoplay='aviaTBaviaTBvideo_autoplay'  data-mobile-img='https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/Leigh-Anne-Clark-Dog-Research_112-CW-EDIT.jpg' class=' av-video-slide  av-video-service-youtube  av-mobile-fallback-image av-single-slide slide-1 ' ><div data-rel='slideshow-2' class='avia-slide-wrap ' style='background-image:url(\"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/Leigh-Anne-Clark-Dog-Research_112-CW-EDIT.jpg\");'  ><div class='av-click-overlay'><\/div><div class='mejs-mediaelement'><div height='1600' width='900' class='av_youtube_frame' id='player_17734_1964179310_456123873'  data-autoplay='0'  data-videoid='HuThxmp5I6s'  data-hd='1'  data-rel='0'  data-wmode='opaque'  data-playlist='player_17734_1964179310_456123873'  data-loop='0'  data-version='3'  data-autohide='1'  data-color='white'  data-controls='1'  data-showinfo='0'  data-iv_load_policy='3'  data-original_url='https:\/\/youtu.be\/HuThxmp5I6s' ><\/div><\/div><div class='av-click-to-play-overlay'><div class=\"avia_playpause_icon\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><div id='after_full_slider_2'  class='main_color av_default_container_wrap container_wrap sidebar_right' style=' '  ><div class='container' ><div class='template-page content  av-content-small alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-17734'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_one_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-6  el_after_av_fullscreen  el_before_av_three_fifth  avia-builder-el-first  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><\/div><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_three_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-7  el_after_av_one_fifth  el_before_av_one_fifth  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><h5>A misplaced war<\/h5>\n<p>Dermatomyositis is basically a misguided inflammatory response, like friendly fire. The body is defending itself against an enemy that is no longer there. Previous research by others had suggested that the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which acts like a forward operating base for the immune system, was associated with dermatomyositis.<br \/>\nBut the disease is complex, meaning it has genetic and environmental causes. Many dog owners report that symptoms of dermatomyositis appear after some kind of traumatic event, like being shipped on a plane, driven across country or having a viral infection.<br \/>\nThe fact is that dogs often share our human environment \u2014 living in our homes, riding in our cars, eating our food, playing in our yards. \u201cSo dogs are more likely to be exposed to the same environmental triggers as humans,\u201d Clark says. In many diseases, like cancer or diabetes, \u201cthere are lots of things at play that cause a person to develop that disease. The same is true in dogs.\u201d<br \/>\nClark knew there were environmental triggers; she had to find the genetic guns. While there are some cases of similar diseases in other breeds, full-blown dermatomyositis in dogs is limited to the collie and Shetland sheepdog gene pools. The range of characteristics of the disease also points to several genetic components, as opposed to a simple dominant or recessive genetic disorder. \u201cWe knew this was going to be a really hard project from Day One,\u201d Clark says.<br \/>\nClark started her work on dermatomyositis during a postdoc at Texas A&amp;M in 2004, but the project fizzled, and she turned her attention to the genetic cause of coat patterns. In 2010, after Clark joined the faculty at Clemson, a program officer at the National Institutes of Health told her the NIH didn\u2019t receive many proposals for dermatomyositis research. In other words, this was a proposal that they would be excited to receive.<br \/>\n\u201cWe stopped everything and wrote a proposal for dermatomyositis.\u201d In 2010, her team received a grant from the Collie Health Foundation, and she got samples for analysis from the dogs treated at A&amp;M. In 2013, Clark got a grant from the NIH.<\/p>\n<h5>Lassie to the rescue!<\/h5>\n<p>Clark needed DNA from a lot of dogs for the study because of the complexity of the disease. Fortunately, she says, there are 84 million pet dogs in the United States. Cheek swabs and small blood samples came in from around the world from 160 collies and shelties, dogs who were affected with dermatomyositis and dogs with no history of the disease. Clark and then-doctoral candidate Jacquelyn Evans, who was the lead author of the PLoS paper, compared all 39 pairs of chromosomes in each dog, looking for the smoking gun. (Evans received her PhD in August; she\u2019s now a fellow at the NIH working in a genetics lab.)<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/clemson.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Clark-Grad.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-17744 size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/clemson.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Clark-Grad.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https:\/\/clemsonworld.wpenginepowered.com\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Clark-Grad.jpg 800w, https:\/\/clemsonworld.wpenginepowered.com\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Clark-Grad-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/clemsonworld.wpenginepowered.com\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Clark-Grad-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/clemsonworld.wpenginepowered.com\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Clark-Grad-705x471.jpg 705w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n\u201cI remember when we saw [the results]. We were speechless. We started looking at the genotypes (the combinations of variations) and writing them down, and it was exciting,\u201d Clark says.<br \/>\nIn a graphic illustration of the dogs\u2019 genomes, there\u2019s a large spike on the collie\u2019s at chromosome 10, and two large spikes on the Shetland sheepdog\u2019s, on chromosomes 10 and 31.<br \/>\nThe spikes represent genetic mutations in two genes, PAN2 and MAP3K7CL, which are involved in coding proteins \u2014 making enzymes and proteins or giving other genes instructions for making proteins. Together with the MHC, the three genes interact to create the disease. They\u2019re the smoking guns.<br \/>\nNow that they know where the mutations are, \u201cwe can genotype a dog and know that dog\u2019s individual risk for developing the disease,\u201d Clark says. \u201cWe can also take a sire and a dam and look at their genotypes and determine what combinations of alleles, or mutations, the puppies might receive. And so breeders can select mates that will not produce a high-risk puppy.\u201d<br \/>\nIt\u2019s information breeders have been hoping for, says Rooksie Noorai, a co-author of the PLoS paper who did her research as a Ph.D. candidate in Clark\u2019s lab. Breeders don\u2019t always know if their dogs have dermatomyositis because the symptoms sometimes don\u2019t develop until after the dogs are bred.<br \/>\nIn 2011, Noorai adopted a sheltie, Jessie, with dermatomyositis from a breeder who had contacted Clark. Jessie had symptoms \u2014 lesions on her face and tail \u2014 and Noorai, now a geneticist in Clemson\u2019s Genomics Institute, was also able to let Jessie contribute to the dermatomyositis study.<br \/>\nClark\u2019s team has developed a genetic test for collies and shelties that is helping breeders identify dogs who are at high, moderate and low risk of having puppies with the dermatomyositis mutations.<br \/>\nAlthough this study is a breakthrough in understanding the genetic basis of dermatomyositis, Clark believes there is a lot more to learn about the disease. Future research will focus on dogs with moderate risk genotypes, specifically asking why some moderate-risk dogs develop the disease and others don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<h5>Working toward an end<\/h5>\n<p>In the TV show, Lassie always came to the rescue. In Clark\u2019s lab, you could say she\u2019s coming to Lassie\u2019s rescue.<br \/>\n\u201cShe\u2019s making a difference,\u201d Noorai says. Not only for dogs, but for people. \u201cDogs make humans\u2019 lives better. Helping dogs helps people,\u201d she says. The research findings with dogs will enable researchers of dermatomyositis in humans to make greater progress as well in determining causes and treatments.<br \/>\nClark, who has owned two collies \u2014 Dr. Watson, her current dog, is a handsome devil with a merle coat resulting from a gene Clark has studied for years \u2014 would just as soon not have to do genetic studies for dermatomyositis.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe end goal,\u201d she says, \u201cis that slowly breeders start eliminating these mutations. Then there won\u2019t be a need to genotype the dog because the disease won\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div><div class=\"flex_column av_one_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-9  el_after_av_three_fifth  el_before_av_hr  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><\/div><br \/>\n<div   class='hr hr-default   avia-builder-el-10  el_after_av_one_fifth  el_before_av_one_fifth '><span class='hr-inner ' ><span class='hr-inner-style'><\/span><\/span><\/div><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_one_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-11  el_after_av_hr  el_before_av_three_fifth  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><\/div><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_three_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-12  el_after_av_one_fifth  el_before_av_one_fifth  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p><em><strong>Clinton Colmenares<\/strong> is director of research communications.\u00a0<strong>Maggie Masterson,<\/strong> a science news writer, also contributed to this story.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div><br \/>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_one_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-14  el_after_av_three_fifth  avia-builder-el-last  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leigh Anne Clark and her research team have discovered genes in collies and shelties that explain a number of traits in the two breeds. Their most recent discovery could have implications for humans as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[965,1003,1365,2266,2384,2858,2861],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-17734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-dermatomyositis","tag-dogs","tag-genetics","tag-plos-genetics","tag-research","tag-summer-fall-2017","tag-summer-fall-2017-features"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/Dogs-Best-Friend_Watson.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17734"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=17734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}