Genetic background of dog aggression

Namen magistrske naloge je bil poiskati kandidatne gene, ki bi bili v pomoč pri razvoju genetskega testa, s katerim bi lahko že pri starših bodočega legla psov ugotovili prisotnost ali odsotnost alelov, ki so povezani z agresivnejšim vedenjem. Takšen test bi olajšal izbiro paritvenih kombinacij, z namenom usmerjene vzreje policijskih in vojaških službenih psov ter dobrih športnih psov. Testirali smo več genov in njihovih različic, ki naj bi bili po podatkih v literaturi povezani z agresivnejšim vedenjem psov. Ugotovili smo, da je število psov, ki imajo vsaj na enem lokusu genotip, ki vsebuje alele, ki naj bi bili povezani z agresivnim vedenjem, porazdeljeno dokaj enakomerno, tako med predstavniki različnih pasem (belgijski in nemški ovčar) kot tudi med psi, ki jih uporabljamo v različne namene. Ugotovili smo, da je homozigotni genotip za prisotnost večjega števila ponovitev adenozinov v intronu gena SLC6A3 bolj pogost pri belgijskih ovčarjih. Ker je takšna različica gena povezana z agresivnejšim vedenjem, bi bilo smiselno uvesti genski test za odkrivanje večjega števila ponovitev adenozinov v genu SLC6A3, kar bi pripomoglo k izbiri ustrezne paritvene kombinacije, glede na to, za kakšen namen želimo vzrejati pse.The purpose of the master\u27s thesis was to select cndidate genes that would help to develop a genetic test that would allow to detect alleles associated with aggressive behavior in the parent dogs of a planned litter. The genetic test would enable the selection of mating combinations, which would result in good police and military working dogs as well as good service and sports dogs. Several genes and variants were tested, which, according to the literature, are associated with more aggressive dog behavior. We found that the number of dogs with at least one locus containing alleles, which were suggested to be associated with aggressive behavior, was distributed pretty equally, both among representatives of different breeds (Malinois and German Shepherd) as among dogs used for different purposes. We found that the homozygous genotype for the presence of adenosine repeats (polyA) in the intron of the gene SLC6A3 is more common in Malinois. Since such a variant of the gene is associated with more aggressive behavior, it would be reasonable to introduce genetic testing for the presence of adenosine repeats, which would help in proposing the mating combinations of dogs, depending on the purpose for which the dogs will be bred