Quick Summary
Phenotype: Long hair. Some breeds are strictly short-haired (e.g. Beagles); some have both short- and long-haired individuals (e.g. Dachshunds); other breeds are characterized by long hair (e.g. Afghan Hounds).
Mode of Inheritance: Autosomal recessive
Alleles: S = Short hair, L* = Long hair (five variants)
Breeds appropriate for testing: Many breeds
Explanation of Results:
- Dogs with S/S genotype are expected to have short hair. They cannot transmit any of these long hair variants to their offspring.
- Dogs with S/L* genotype are expected to have short hair and are carriers of a long hair variant. They will transmit their long hair variant to 50% of their offspring. Matings between two carriers of a long hair variant are expected to produce 25% puppies with long hair.
- Dogs with L*/L* genotype are expected to have long hair. They will transmit their long hair variant to all of their offspring.
$45 one test per animal
$65 two tests for coat color/fur type/bobtail (same animal) (excludes Cocoa)
$85 three tests for coat color/fur type/bobtail (same animal) (excludes Cocoa)
+ $15 each additional test if ordering more than three coat color/fur type/bobtail tests on the same animal (excludes Cocoa)
Five recessive mutations (variants) in the fibroblast growth factor-5 (FGF5) gene are associated with long hair phenotypes in dogs. p.Cys95Phe (L) is the most common across breeds. c.578C>T (L2) occurs in Akita, Eurasier, Samoyed, and Siberian Husky breeds. c.556-571del16 (L3) occurs in Eurasier breed, c.559-560dupGG (L4) occurs in Afghan hound, Eurasier breeds, and French Bulldog, and g.8193T>A (L5) occurs in Afghan hound.
The long hair test offered by the VGL screens for all 5 variants. To simplify reporting, we designated the variants as L, L2, L3, L4, L5 as indicated above.
Note: Long hair is also known as Fluffy in the French Bulldog.
Species
Breed
Type of Test
Test Result | Coat Length (FGF5) |
---|---|
S/S | Dog has short hair. Long-haired offspring cannot be produced. |
S/L* | Dog has short hair and carries long hair gene. |
L*/L* | Dog has long hair. |
* The report will specify mutations as L, L2, L3, L4, L5.
Cadieu, E., Neff, M.W., Quignon, P., Walsh, K., Chase, K., Parker, H.G., Vonholdt, B.M., Rhue, A., Boyko, A., Byers, A., Wong, A., Mosher, D.S., Elkahloun, A.G., Spady, T.C., André, C., Lark, K.G., Cargill, M., Bustamante, C.D., Wayne, R.K., & Ostrander, E.A. (2009). Coat variation in the domestic dog is governed by variants in three genes. Science, 326, 150-153. doi: 10.1126/science.1177808
Dierks, C., Mömke, S., Philipp, U., & Distl, O. (2013). Allelic heterogeneity of FGF5 mutations causes the long-hair phenotype in dogs. Animal Genetics, 44(4), 425-431. doi: 10.1111/age.12010