Cited by 145Human-Animal Interaction StudiesGenetic and phenotypic traits in livestockGenetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals

Highly heritable and functionally relevant breed differences in dog behaviour

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MacLean, Evan L., Snyder-Mackler, Noah, vonHoldt, Bridgett M., Serpell, James A.·2019·Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

Variation across dog breeds presents a unique opportunity to investigate the evolution and biological basis of complex behavioural traits. We integrated behavioural data from more than 14 000 dogs from 101 breeds with breed-averaged genotypic data ( n = 5697 dogs) from over 100 000 loci in the dog genome. We found high levels of among-breed heritability for 14 behavioural traits (the proportion of trait variance attributable to genetic similarity among breeds). We next identified 131 single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with breed differences in behaviour, which were found in genes that are highly expressed in the brain and enriched for neurobiological functions and developmental processes, suggesting that they may be functionally associated with behavioural differences. Our results shed light on the heritability and genetic architecture of complex behavioural traits and identify dogs as a powerful model in which to address these questions.

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Registry

Crossref · 10.1098/rspb.2019.0716

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73 of 73 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Certain behaviours, such as trainability, aggression towards strangers, attention seeking, and attachment, may be more heritable than others.

    “Additionally, studies have shown that certain behaviours, such as trainability, aggression towards strangers, attention seeking, and attachment, may be more heritable than others [165].”

    From Ethical Concerns about Fashionable Dog Breeding (2024) · cites this paper as [165]

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Authors
MacLean, E. L., Snyder-Mackler, N., vonHoldt, B. M., & Serpell, J. A.
Affiliations
  • University of Arizona (US)
  • Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
  • Princeton University (US)
  • University of Pennsylvania (US)
Corresponding author
MacLean, Evan L.
Venue
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Published
2019-10-02
Volume
286
Issue
1912
Pages
20190716
ISSN
  • 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
  • 0962-8452
  • 1471-2954
OpenAlex
W2978398499
Cited by
144
References
73
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 6
FWCI
9.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UA Campus Repository (The University of Arizona) (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • National Institute on Aging (R00AG051764)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals
Keywords
dog behavior, dog breeds, heritability, breed differences, single nucleotide polymorphisms, genetic architecture, brain gene expression, neurobiology, dog genome
MeSH terms
Animals, Behavior, Animal, Breeding, Dogs, Genotype, Species Specificity, Genome, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Heredity

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