A second KRT71 allele in curly coated dogs.

Major characteristics of coat variation in dogs can be explained by variants in only a few genes. Until now, only one missense variant in the KRT71 gene, p.Arg151Trp, has been reported to cause curly hair in dogs. However, this variant does not explain the curly coat in all breeds as the mutant 151 Trp allele, for example, is absent in Curly Coated Retrievers. We sequenced the genome of a Curly Coated Retriever at 22× coverage and searched for variants in the KRT71 gene. Only one protein-changing variant was present in a homozygous state in the Curly Coated Retriever and absent or present in a heterozygous state in 221 control dogs from different dog breeds. This variant, NM_001197029.1:c.1266_1273delinsACA, was an indel variant in exon 7 that caused a frameshift and an altered and probably extended C-terminus of the KRT71 protein NP_001183958.1:p.(Ser422ArgfsTer?). Using Sanger sequencing, we found that the variant was fixed in a cohort of 125 Curly Coated Retrievers and segregating in five of 14 additionally tested breeds with a curly or wavy coat. KRT71 variants cause curly hair in humans, mice, rats, cats and dogs. Specific KRT71 variants were further shown to cause alopecia. Based on this knowledge from other species and the predicted molecular consequence of the newly identified canine KRT71 variant, it is a compelling candidate causing a second curly hair allele in dogs. It might cause a slightly different coat phenotype than the previously published p.Arg151Trp variant and could potentially be associated with follicular dysplasia in dogs.

Low-Reynolds-number swimmer utilizing surface traveling waves: analytical and experimental study.

Microscale slender swimmers are frequently encountered in nature and are now used in microrobotic applications. The swimming mechanism examined in this paper is based on small transverse axisymmetric traveling wave deformations of a cylindrical long shell. The thin-shelled device is assumed to be inextensible at the middle surface and extensible at the surface wetted by the fluid. Assuming low-Reynolds-number hydrodynamics, an analytical solution is derived for waves of small amplitudes compared with the cylinder diameter. We show that swimming velocity increases with ß(1) (the ratio of cylinder radius to wavelength) and that swimming velocity is linearly dependent on wave propagation velocity, increasing to leading order with the square of the ratio of wave amplitude to wavelength ß(2) and decreasing with the wall thickness. A fourth-order correction in ß(2) was also calculated and was found to have a negative effect on the swimming velocity. The results for a shell of negligible-wall thickness were compared with Taylor's solution for an inextensible two-dimensional flat membrane undergoing a waving motion and Felderhof's results [Phys. Fluids 22, 113604 (2010)] for an unbounded flow field and negligible-wall thickness. We show that Taylor's analytic solution is a particular limiting case of the present solution, assuming zero wall thickness and infinite values of ß(1). The present mechanism was also compared with Taylor's well known solutions of waving planar and helical circular tails. We show that the present approach yields higher velocities as ß(1) increases, whereas, the opposite occurs for waving tails. Indeed, in the region where ß(1)>15, the present approach yields velocities nearly as fast as Taylor's helical waving tail while consuming less power and with a design that is considerably more compact. In this regime, the axisymmetric swimmer is twice as fast as Taylor's planar-tail swimmer for an additional investment of only one-third of the power. Experiments were conducted using a macroscale autonomous model immersed in highly viscous silicone fluid. We outlined how the proposed mechanism was realized to propel an elongated, yet finite, swimmer. Measured data demonstrate the effects of wave velocity and wavelength on swimming speed, showing good agreement with analytical results.