The Bracco Italiano is one of the oldest breeds of Italian pointing dogs, used for hunting ever since Renaissance times. After the Second World War it was included among the breeds officially recorded by the ENCI (the Italian Cynological Club), and since 1970 more than 23,000 animals have been registered; there are currently approximately 750 births per year. In this paper, we present the breed characterization of the population at the molecular level using 21 STR markers from the panels recommended for the 2006, 2008 and 2010 ISAG canine comparison test. Number of alleles, allele frequencies, deviations from Hardy-Weinberg proportions, linkage disequilibrium among loci, genetic similarity, genetic distances and molecular co-ancestry-based parameters were calculated. The number of alleles ranged from 3 to 9 (mean 6.43) whereas the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.44 to 0.81 (mean 0.64). There was a high genetic similarity within the whole population (0.455) showing the great homogeneity of the sampled animals, as confirmed also by the small kinship distance (0.336), by the high values of the self molecular coancestry (0.703) and of the inbreeding coefficient (0.406). These results suggest the need for a careful genetic management of the population in order to avoid the risk of an excessive increase in the inbreeding level which would result in significant inbreeding depression and in significant loss of genetic variation.

-The study presents the analysis of the genetic variability in a colony of dog guides. Three breeds, Labrador (L), Golden Retriever (GR), and German Shepherd (GS), were evaluated. Pedigrees data on �70 L, 2��0 GR, and 8� GS dogs bred for guide by the National Guide Dog School (SNCG) of Scandicci (Florence, Italy) were used. Data were available beginning from 1����4. The average coefficient of coancestry and the mean F were 0.8% and 0.4�% in GR, 0.7% and 0.�8% in L, 1.0% and 0.4��% in GS, respectively. The rate of increase in inbreeding was lower in L population (0.17) than in GR population (0.�4), while in GS only the dogs with � e 7 traced generations resulted inbred. The results of this research point out that the genetic management of the dogs seems to be carefully and rationally monitored. Nevertheless, the population that may require a greater attention seems to be the GR, where a higher increase of the coefficient of inbreeding per generation is observed; therefore, the importation of germplasm from other working dogs is desirable in order to avoid in future an e�cessive increase of the inbreeding that could lead to adverse consequences for dogs health and fertility.

Differential expression of the ASIP gene and its interaction with MC1R have provided basic insight into pigment-type switching in mammals. Here, we report the characterization of a specific red-haired skin transcript and a specific black-haired skin transcript in the ASIP gene in the black-and-tan Doberman Pinscher. It is also shown that the brindle-haired skin of the Boxer exhibits a deregulated expression resulting in various 5'-untranslated exons. Comparative sequence analysis revealed a short interspersed element and a poly(A) stretch inserted within the promoter region of the ASIP in the Boxer. Genotyping studies have shown that both insertions are also present in brindle and fawn animals of the Boxer and Great Dane breeds. Furthermore, we genotyped MC1R and K loci for their known variants that affect coat color in dogs. As expected, all animals were homozygotes (E(M) /E(M) ) for the mask mutation, and fawn animals were k(y) /k(y) . Unexpectedly, we found that all brindle animals were heterozygotes k(B) /k(y) . Our results suggest that differential expression of ASIP determine pigment-type switching in a MC1R and K allele-dependent manner in dogs.

Eight short tandem repeat markers included in the International Society for Animal Genetics panel of 24 loci investigated in canine comparison tests were analysed in a sample of pure-breed dogs, with the purpose of defining an allele nomenclature based on the number of repeats. A regression analysis of the raw data produced by the sequencer, coupled with the direct sequencing of selected alleles, allowed us to propose a system of nomenclature for six of the eight loci (four di-nucleotidic: AHT121, AHTh137, REN169018 and REN64E19, and two tetra-nucleotidic: FH2001 and FH2328). The remaining two loci (INU055 and FH2848) showed a pattern of fragments that did not resolve in a simple allele series. This work may be useful to establish a basis for comparing data across different laboratories for a set of validated canine markers, which can be used in population genetics, forensics and other analyses.

Safety and quality foods of animal origin are extremely important for consumers. The aim of this work was to evaluate the feasibility of a method to track the breed origin of sheep meat all along the production chain using molecular genetics tools. A total of 800 samples evenly distributed among seven Italian sheep breeds have been typed at 19 STR markers, together with 90 samples from both imported sheep animals and local crossbred animals withdrawn at slaughterhouses. A maximum likelihood assignment test was adopted to evaluate STR ability to allocate samples to their true breed of origin. Sarda animals were all correctly allocated, as well as more than 98% of samples from the other breeds. Only slightly worst allocation performances were observed for imported and crossbred animals. Preliminary results seem quite promising, though further analyses will be needed in order to better understand the statistical power of such an assignment test before implementation in the sheep meat production chain