Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on July 13, 2005
Journal of Heredity 2005 96(7):739-744; doi:10.1093/jhered/esi068
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Evaluation of Canine COL4A3 and COL4A4 as Candidates for Familial Renal Disease in the Norwegian Elkhound
From the Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands (Wiersma and van Dongen); Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 (Millon); Department of Animals, Science and Society, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands (van Oost); and Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 (Bannasch)
Address correspondence to Bernard A. van Oost at the address above, or e-mail: b.vanoost{at}vet.uu.nl.
The collagen type IV
3 and
4 chains (COL4A3 and COL4A4) are part of the specialized glomerular basement membrane in the kidney. In human these genes are responsible for Alport syndrome (a type of hereditary nephritis). Histopathological similarities between kidneys of Norwegian elkhound dogs affected with familial renal disease and human Alport syndrome were the basis for a candidate gene approach in Norwegian elkhounds. Three microsatellitestightly linked to canine COL4A3 and COL4A4were developed. The microsatellites were used to analyze linkage between COL4A3 and COL4A4 and familial renal disease in a Norwegian elkhound pedigree segregating this disease. Presence of one recombinant between familial renal disease and COL4A3/COL4A4 suggests that these genes are not likely candidates for familial renal disease in this breed.