ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The inheritance of different coat colours in the Cane Corso Italiano dog has not been described thus far. We analysed data from 23,271 dogs and bitches using the Cane Corso Italiano Pedigree Database. We are describing for the first time the coat colour segregation ratios in Cane Corso Italiano offspring arising from crosses between parents of all possible coat colour combinations. RESULTS: Segregation ratios that do not follow a Mendelian pattern suggest that additional genes are active in the determination of coat colour. Segregation ratios of offspring produced by parental crossing (male colour A x female colour B) were compared with the ratios of offspring produced by reciprocal crossing (male colour B x female colour A) in all possible coat colour combinations. Most of the segregation ratios were the same, but some segregation ratios in reciprocal crosses differed. This result suggests that at least one gene responsible for coat colour is located on a sex chromosome. The sex ratio was analysed in the offspring of all colour groups. A ratio of 1:1 was not confirmed in 8 colour groups by the chi-square test. CONCLUSIONS: We described for the first time coat colour segregation ratios in Cane Corso Italiano dogs. Furthermore, we present the hypothesis that at least one gene responsible for coat colour is located on a sex chromosome.
Subject(s)
Animal Fur/metabolism , Pigmentation/genetics , Animals , Dogs , Female , MaleABSTRACT
The Cane Corso Italiano belongs among the new dog breeds that were fully recognised by Federation Cynologique Internationale (FCI) in 2007. For the first time, this study describes a median lifespan using the data of 232 dogs of the Cane Corso Italiano breed collected from kennels and individual owners from 25 countries. The median lifespan of the whole examined group is 9.29 years (IQR 6.98-11.12, IQR = Interquartile Range). This paper is the first to describe the possible relationship between median lifespan and hair colour within one breed. The longest living group is formed by black brindle coloured dogs, with a median of 10.30 years (IQR 8.33-13.00), and brindle coloured dogs, with a median of 10.13 years (IQR 7.12-11.25). The median lifespan of black brindle dogs exceeded the overall median lifespan of all dogs by 1.01 year and the median lifespan of other colour dogs by 2.21 years. Our results suggest a possible way for a prolongation of age at death of the Cane Corso Italiano breed using appropriate breeding. The median lifespan of male Cane Corso Italiano dogs is 9.25 years (IQR 6.97-11.00) and female Cane Corso Italiano dogs 9.33 years (IQR 7.00-11.31). The statistical analysis using the Independent Samples Student's t test confirmed that the lifespan of female dogs did not exceed the median lifespan of male dogs (P>0.01).
