BCOA Bulletin January-February-March 2007 - the Basenji Club of ...

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
What an exciting time this is for
Basenji breeders!
The announcement of the availability
of a linked marker DNA test for Fanconi
Syndrome marks a big turning point
in the battle against this devastating
disease. Our thanks go out to Dr. Gary
Johnson and his team at the University
of Missouri, the Basenji Health Endowment, the American Kennel
Club Canine Health Foundation, and each and every individual
who contributed funds and submitted blood samples in support of
this research.
Find out more about this exciting news and how you can order
the test for your dogs elsewhere in this Bulletin.
For those of you who have internet access, this is not new
information. However, some of our members do not have internet
access, and for them, this may be the first they have heard of our
test. Please feel free to call me for information on how to get your
dogs tested. You can find my phone number in the roster and leave
me a message.
Several have asked for an explanation of how to work with
these test results to prevent producing pups with Fanconi.
Below are tables to help you figure out how this all works. ‘F’
(caps) represents the normal unaffected gene, and ‘f’ (lower case)
represents the mutant, affected gene for Fanconi. The letters at the
top of the table represent the genes for one parent; along the side of
the tables (column to the left) are the genes for the other parent.
Each parent has two genes at the Fanconi site, either ‘F,’ or,
‘f’ , or any combination of the two. Each parent contributes one
gene to a pup. The squares that have two letters in them are the
offspring, getting one gene from each parent.
If the resulting pup has FF, it is clear of Fanconi. If that animal
has Ff, then it is a carrier, having one of the defective genes that
produce Fanconi. Those dogs will not develop the disease, but can
pass on the gene. The combination of ‘ff’ represents an affected
animal.
The mating of a carrier to a clear animal:
F f
F FF Ff
F FF Ff
Mating a carrier to a carrier:
F f
F FF Ff
f Ff ff
Carrier to Affected
F f
f Ff ff
f Ff ff
by Sally Wuornos
This mating produces two clear pups and two
carrier pups. Each pup in this litter has a 50%
chance of being clear and a 50% chance of
being a carrier.
This breeding produces one clear, two carriers
and one affected. Each pup in this litter has
a 25% chance of being clear, 25% chance of
being affected and 50% chance of being a
carrier.
This breeding produces two carriers and two
affected, that is, each pup has a 50% chance
of being carrier and a 50% chance of being
affected.
Clear to Affected
f f
F Ff Ff
F Ff Ff
Now for Clear to Clear:
F F
F FF FF
F FF FF
Affected to Affected:
f f
f ff ff
f ff ff
The Basenji Club of America, Inc. BULLETIN - 2
This produces a litter of all carriers.
This produces all clears.
This breeding produces all affected.
I must remind everyone that statistics work in such a way
that over the long run these results will take place. It’s generally
accepted that it takes 30 trials or more for the statistics to sort
out exactly. Not every litter (in the first 3 tables) will produce the
exact number of clear, carrier or affected. So, it may be possible
for one litter of carrier to carrier to produce an entire litter that is
affected, while another entire litter of carrier to carrier would all be
clear, but over the long run the above examples will apply. In other
words, over the long run, a carrier to carrier breeding will produce
25% clear, 25% affected and 50% carriers.
Now, we all agree that our goal should be to produce no puppies
that are affected. In order to achieve that goal the following should
be done:
Clears can be breed to any others - clear, carrier or affected
Carriers and affected need to be bred to only clear animals.
In other news, a committee has been formed to look into
the possibility of the AKC opening the stud book to the newest
African imports. If the AKC is receptive to this idea, the club and
every member of the club who has a viewpoint or wants to add
information will then discuss the issues involved and have the
opportunity to vote on the matter. For the stud book to be opened
a 2/3 majority of voting BCOA members must approve the idea.
The Avongara dogs which were admitted to the Stud Book
in 1990 were brought here in the interests of health and genetic
diversity. They did not have Fanconi Syndrome, IPSID or PRA
and never produced these problems. Their contributions to the
health of our breed have been well documented.
In recent years, several other trips to Africa have brought back
more native dogs. The Basenji fanciers who made these difficult
trips did so at their own considerable expense, with no expectation
of personal gain. We thank them all for their efforts on our behalf.
Our breed’s small gene pool continues to present a challenge
to breeders. Geneticists tell us that a minimum of 50 original
founders that are well represented in the gene pool are necessary
for the breed’s long term survival. Opening the stud book to
approved recent imports would be a step in that direction.
The marker test for Fanconi Syndrome and the African imports
are not really two separate stories, but rather, two parts of the same
story, the story of dedicated, generous people making important
contributions to the welfare of our breed. Bravo to all involved.