DNA TEST FOR CATARACT

May be several of you got the email today about possibility to make DNA test for cataract. They found the gen for C by schnauzers. Does anyone have more details?

I only now this site.
And here they talk about PRA A
I never heart of DNA of cataract.
I now a black mini that was blind on 4 months.

http://www.optigen.com/opt9_test_a_pra.html

Nonono, the PRA-A test is known long time ago, this is totaly new and fresh info! It was project since 2006 they worked on it and found out now the gene for Hereditary Cataract HC. I think it will be soon published all over.

It would be great news! Waiting for details.

Do you have a name of laboratory who made adn test for cataract ?
i wil be interest too ...

OK, I have some details, more to come when I get sent the actual document in a day or 2 hopefully.

The Animal Health Trust (in the UK) now has enough samples to begin searching for the gene defect that produces CHC (ie the cataract the a puppy is born with - not the one that forms in an adult that is hereditary). The AHT hopes to have narrowed down the search for the area by March 2009 and will then hopefully have a test ready within months of that.

The AHT still needs samples from affected dogs with the adult form of cataract - so del casa vita, can you get a sample from that affected mini (if it is the adult form??) more details on how to do that has been posted in the eye disease section of this forum.

So they don't need sample off a dog that blind with 4 months??
Further I can no dogs that have cataract,olny the dog that have it with 4 monts.
Is it a problem (cataract)by the mini's????
I know there sometime's PRA by the mini,but cataract??
I think it's a problem than,because they have find the gen....
It is greet that they find it,so we can do something.....
Now the other PRA....

For CHC the puppy is born with the condition, this is why we have the whole litter eye screened at 6 weeks old, the cut off age for this is, 3 or 4 months old, (I can't remember exactly off the top of my head!). Yearly eye tests are done to see if a dog has developed cataract or PRA.

As the dog is 4 months old, was it this age when diagnosed?? The AHT could do with knowing which eye condition this dog has.

The AHT is collecting DNA for all the eye conditions, CHC is just the first where we have enough samples from affected dogs + extra samples from close relatives, that work can start on finding the gene and developing the test.

So, yes, it is worth getting a sample (cheek swab) and sending it in, along with a copy of the most recent eye test report and the pedigree for the dog (makes tracking the gene easier). All samples are kept in confidence, and will not be known to anyone outside of those working on the test. They still need samples for cataract and PRA, I would think that extra samples for CHC would also help as a check that they have the right gene defect.


Yes, cataract can be a problem in the minis as well as PRA. though there is already a DNA test for type A PRA, though other forms of this eye condition do exist in the breed as dogs have had this DNA test (clear) and still developed PRA.

We will not know the full extent of how widespread these conditions are until we get the DNA tests and can find out which dogs are carriers, which are clear and which are genetically affected but yet to show any sign of the disease.


Just to show an example, there was a 10 year old Giant schnauzer diagnosed with hereditary cataract, this dog was no longer used in breeding and was past the recommended age of 8 for the eye tests to stop. More recently, other dogs in that line have shown to have cataract at a much earlier age. So this shows that eye testing on it's own will not show us how deep the problem may be, particularly with those breeders who rehome breeding stock while still at a young age or only eye test those dogs they are wanting to breed off that year.

Oke thank you for all the info.
But how can I take the sample en send it??
I there someone that can send me the tings I need??
I breed now for 10 years and test the eyes al these years and I can happily to say that I never had a dog with eye disease
But I can not wait to have the DNA tests,so it is sure.
With the test we have now it is not for sure.....

These kits are available from Dr catherine Mellersh, Animal Health Trust, Lanwades Park, Kentford, Suffolk, UK, CB8 7UU Not sure what the internation code is but the phone number is 01638 750659 or email cathryn.mellersh@aht.org.uk.

You would need a pack for the affected dog and a new pack each for any relatives - dam, sire, brothers, sisters.


http://www.northernschnauzerclub.co.uk/Lim_print.html that link also has a person you can contact for the test kits or if you wish to support the funds for research for these DNA tests, you can buy the print that is for sale - see if you can find the white mini in there!

Oke thank you.

i will be very interesting if a test for the cataract of young dog is ok !
for my dogs : i go to a kenel club certificate vetenuary as the dog has 12 or 18 monthes for that, after for PRA i go one time by year with my reproducers ....
in france the kenel club has made promotion for "antagen" but the pra go on usa for tests... and with a traitment in france, i am not ok with it. an other labotary "genindex" make it ! For 2009 i take decision to make identification and pra by "genindex" !
if the kenel club doesn't ok, it will be tell me why and have very very good reason ... :-)))
i am a litle breeder very litle in comparaison about a lot of you on this forum but for me it's very important to produce good dogs ! i have no pretention about made a champion dog but for me this problem, as the character is very important !
i

Bit later then I mentioned, but here is the news! I would also add that the Joint Miniature Schnauzer Eye Fund has also raised over £40,000 towards this.

Canine Genetics Progress Report
Breed: Miniature Schnauzer
Condition: Hereditary Cataract
Date: December 2008
Recent / Current Funding:
Funding Body: Kennel Club Charitable Trust
Amount: £250,000
Start Date: 01.03.2006, duration 36 months
The above grant is specifically to study Hereditary Cataract (HC) and Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA) in the Golden Retriever, the Tibetan Spaniel and the American Cocker Spaniel but it is our intention to also study any breeds for which we can collect sufficient samples.

Sample Collection
To date we have DNA samples from 128 Miniature Schnauzers (MS) in storage, submitted from the following nine countries: UK (76), Czech republic (4), Sweden (13), Finland (9), USA (7), Denmark (, Norway (, Germany (2), Spain (1). Of these 35 have cataracts in at least one eye, 83 had clear eye certificates at the time their samples were submitted and for 10 we have no eye information. Dr Barnett has recently examined all the eye certificates/reports from the dogs with cataracts and in his opinion 14 of the samples are from dogs affected with congenital hereditary cataract (CHC). Because the remaining 21 dogs with cataracts originate from a number of different countries, have been examined by several different ophthalmologists and have a variety of different types of cataract it is difficult to be confident which have hereditary forms of cataract. For this reason we have decided to focus initially on CHC.

Active Research
Early in the New Year we will genotype DNA from all the CHC cases (currently 14) and a similar or greater number of controls. For the controls we will choose the oldest dogs we have samples from that had clear eyes at the time of examination. Samples from the cases and controls will all be genotyped with 22,000 genetics markers in an attempt to identify those that are associated with CHC. This is known as a Whole genome Scan (WGS). These markers will point us to the position in the genome where the CHC mutation(s) is located. We hope these experiments will have been carried out and the results analysed by the end of March ’09. If the WGS successfully indicates a region of interest we will conduct further experiments to explore the region, identify candidate genes for further investigation and finally identify the causal mutation.

Additional Samples
We would like to stress that although the minimum number of 12 CHC affected dogs has been achieved (we currently have samples from 14 CHC affected dogs) this number should be considered as just that – a minimum. In our experience 12 samples may be sufficient to identify a region of the genome containing the mutation under investigation but are rarely sufficient to pinpoint the actual mutation itself. Breeders and owners should therefore be encouraged to keep sending DNA samples from cataract-affected dogs to the AHT to participate in this research. Once the research has been completed and DNA tests have been developed the owners of all the dogs that participated in the research will receive their dogs results free of charge.

Thank You
The AHT would like to thank the very many Miniature Schnauzer owners and breeders who have offered us samples and information about their dogs. Without this kind of co-operation we would not be in a position to investigate HC in this breed; with your continued co-operation we will continue to make progress.
We would also like to thank everybody who has raised and donated money for the research effort at the Animal Health Trust. As a charity we rely heavily on donations and they really do make a significant difference to the work we can do.

Interesting information..I didn't realize it was such a big issue amongst schnauzers. I will read up more on it as well...

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