So doggone complicated
Dogs in all their amazing variety — tall or short, pug-nosed or snouted, curly haired or straight, mastiff or teacup — are the same species, Elaine Ostrander reminded the audience, standing before an almost comical image of a giant harlequin Great Dane and a tiny Chihuahua. Being the same species means that even breeds at opposite ends of the size spectrum can breed, as unlikely as that may seem from a practical standpoint. It also means they share the same genetic code, except for the part responsible for breed traits. That makes those genes stand out and makes dogs ideal subjects for genetic studies, Ostrander said. Ostrander, who runs a comparative genetics laboratory at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Human Genome Research Institute, described her lab’s work during a lunchtime seminar on Thursday in the Northwest Laboratory, sponsored by the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Over the past several...