Elinor Karlsson, a geneticist at UMass Chan School of Medicine and the Broad Institute, said these early studies “highlight the potential that we can learn from dogs, but also suggest that we need larger sample sizes.” Only then can we really do this.” So researchers began creating large-scale citizen science projects to find DNA samples and data from dogs across the United States.
Pet owners rose to the challenge. The Golden Retriever Lifetime Study, which began recruiting in 2012, has been tracking more than 3,000 dogs and aims to identify genetic and environmental risk factors for cancer, which is particularly common in the breed. Since 2019, the Dog Aging Project, a long-term study on health and longevity, has enrolled nearly 50,000 dogs.
Dr. Karlsson’s own project, Darwin’s Dogs, has 44,000 dogs and counting. (The genomes of about 4,000 people have been sequenced.) Researchers are mining the data for clues about bone cancer, obsessive behaviors and other traits. Early findings include: While many behavioral traits, such as sociability and trainability, are heritable, they are widely distributed across the canine kingdom, and breed is not a good predictor of a dog’s personality.
This spring, Dr. Carlson releases the highly anticipated expansion pack: Darwin’s Cats. “I’m a total cat lover – I’ve never had a dog,” she said. Later, she added in an email, “I’d love to know if ‘cats sleeping on your head’ is genetically influenced.”
data driver
These projects are becoming possible as genome sequencing becomes faster and cheaper. But Dr Ostrander, who now leads the Dog10K project, which is working to create a comprehensive global catalog of canine genetic diversity, says “huge enthusiasm” from pet owners is integral.
