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Genetic variabilities within and between Finnish populations of Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Wirehaired Dachshunds, Pembroke Welsh Corgis and Bedlington Terriers were quantified with microsatellite allele numbers, observed heterozygosities, expected heterozygosities, FIS estimates, FST estimates and DS distances. In a sample of 50 individuals from each, breed and ten polymorphic loci, the highest genetic diversity was exhibited in the Wirehaired Dachshunds and lowest in the Bedlington Terriers. Although statistically significant deviations from the Hardy-Weinberg (H-W) equilibrium were observed, they occurred at an unexpectedly low frequency. Most strikingly, the extremely small Bedlington Terrier population displayed genotypes in H-W proportions in all investigated loci. The H-W deviations always occurred with positive FIS estimates, which, on average, were not larger than values reported for free-living canids. Genetic differentiation between the breeds was very large. As a comparison, present estimates were, on average, over two times higher than previously observed between breeds of sheep, and over two times higher than the highest estimates reported between human populations. Moreover, the highest DS distances were only slightly lower than the lowest values inferred between humans and chimpanzees. Severe bottlenecks in the recent past of the examined breeds were not statistically supported. The presented data imply genetic isolation and intense artificial selection in the history of these breeds of dogs.

We present a practical and efficient parentage analysis test for dogs. The method makes use of ten polymorphic microsatellite markers combined in three multiplex-PCR reactions. All three multiplexes can be performed under the same cycling conditions and using a multiple-dye detection system the PCR-products can be pooled for electrophoresis. Amplifications in four different thermal cyclers produced easily interpretable results throughout demonstrating the repeatability of the assay. In order to evaluate the method's efficiency a total of 100 dogs from four different breeds were typed. Assuming one known parent, exclusion probabilities ranging from 99.34% to 99.93% were attained.

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