Coat Color/Trait Test Gene Genotype Interpretation
A Locus (Agouti) ASIP Ay/Ay Sable/fawn
B Locus (Brown) TYRP1 B/B Black coat, nose and foot pads (does not carry brown)
D Locus (Dilute) MLPH d/d Dilute (carries two copies of dilute)
E Locus (Yellow/Red) MC1R E/E Black
Em Locus (Melanistic Mask) MC1R N/N No melanistic mask
H Locus (Harlequin, Great Dane PSMB7 h/h No harlequin Type)
K Locus (Dominant Black) CBD103 KB/KB No agouti expression allowed
M Locus (Merle) PMEL m/M 263
S Locus (White Spotting, Parti, or MITF S/S No white spotting, flash, parti, or piebald Piebald)
Interpretation:
Interpretation:
This dog carries two copies of Ay which results in a sable/fawn coat color. However, this dog’s coat color is also dependent on the E, K, and B genes. The sable/fawn coat color is only expressed if the dog is also E/E or E/e at the E locus and ky/ky at the K locus which allows for agouti gene expression. This dog will pass on Ay to 100% of its offspring.
This dog does not carry any copies of the ba, bc, bd or bs mutations and has a B locus genotype of B/B. Thus, this dog typically will have a black coat, nose, and foot pads. However, this dog’s coat color is dependent on the genotypes of many other genes. This dog will pass one copy of B to 100% of its offspring and cannot produce b/b dogs.
This dog carries two copies of the same d mutation and has a D locus genotype of d/d which results in the "dilution" or lightening of the pigments that produce the dog’s coat color. This dog will pass one copy of d to 100% of its offspring. This dog can produce d/d offspring if bred to a dog that is also a carrier of a d mutation (D/d or d/d).
This dog carries two copies of E which allows for the production of black pigment. However, this dog’s coat color is also dependent on the K, A, and B genes. This dog will pass on E to 100% of its offspring.
This dog carries two copies of N which does not result in a melanistic mask on the muzzle of the dog. This dog will pass on N to 100% of its offspring.
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This dog carries two copies of h and will not have a harlequin coat color. The dog will pass on h to 100% of its offspring.
The K locus genotype for this dog is KB/KB which prevents expression of the agouti gene (A locus) and allows for solid eumelanin (black pigment) production in pigmented areas of the dog. However, this dog’s coat color is also dependent on its genotypes at the E and B loci. This dog will pass on KB to 100% of its offspring.
M Locus Genotype: m/M263
This dog carries one copy of the m (non-merle, wild-type) allele and one copy of the M (merle insertion variant) allele of the PMEL gene. This dog will pass on one copy of the m (non-merle, wild-type) allele to 50% of its offspring and one copy of the M (merle insertion variant) allele to 50% of its offspring. The approximate size of the M allele of this dog (+/- 1 base pair) is listed in superscript in the genotype. Merle is inherited in a dominant fashion, meaning that only one copy of an M allele is necessary for a dog to display some variation of the merle coat color/pattern, which is marked by random dilution of eumelanin (black pigment) leaving patches of normal coat color within areas of diluted pigmentation.
Specific sizes of the M allele have been associated with the potential to produce “classic” merle patterning or other M-associated coat color variations. Merle is most appropriately viewed as a spectrum of coat colors/patterns and the size of the variant M allele is associated with a coat color/pattern somewhere within that spectrum. Although some coat color/pattern variations have been associated with specific sizes of the M allele in certain breeds, referred to here as a ‘bin’, the size of the M allele does not guarantee a specific outcome. In general, dogs with M allele sizes between 200 – 246 base pairs (bp) have been associated with non-merle or minimal-merle coat colors/patterns and are often referred to as “cryptic” merle; M allele sizes between 247 – 264 bp have been associated with “atypical” or “diluted” c