RESEARCH v d Y

The term ‘selective sweep ’ is used in the study of genet-with eugenic breeding programmes. A selective sweep analysis can be very helpful in both determining the close Arnott et al. Canine Genetics and Epidemiology (2015) 2:6 DOI 10.1186/s40575-015-0017-6group is bred for conformation and companionship –Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australiaics to describe a reduction or loss of DNA sequence variation in regions of the genome of species, breeds or cultivars. This can occur as a consequence of strong se-lective pressure (positive evolutionary selection) due to a highly desirable DNA mutation in such regions which convey a survival advantage (positive evolutionary nat-ural selection). Alternatively it can be artificially driven by man in other species through manipulating selection genetic relationship of individuals and groups within a species, and also in some cases can be useful in identifying gene variants that cause disease. In this study of Australian Kelpies we have applied a fresh approach to selective sweep analysis that interrogates a breed ‘split ’ so as to learn more about the ‘external charac-teristics ’ (often called the phenotype) that are regarded as desirable in two very different cohorts of dogs that share a common breed origin. One group of dogs is intensively se-lected for its ability to work with livestock, while the other * Correspondence