Congenital Sensorineural Deafness in Dalmatian Dogs Associated with Quantitative Trait Loci

A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed for 235 Dalmatian dogs using the canine Illumina high density bead chip to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with canine congenital sensorineural deafness (CCSD). Data analysis was performed for all Dalmatian dogs and in addition, separately for brown-eyed and blue-eyed dogs because of the significant influence of eye colour on CCSD in Dalmatian dogs. Mixed linear model analysis (MLM) revealed seven QTL with experiment-wide significant associations (-log(10)P>5.0) for CCSD in all Dalmatian dogs. Six QTL with experiment-wide significant associations for CCSD were found in brown-eyed Dalmatian dogs and in blue-eyed Dalmatian dogs, four experiment-wide significant QTL were detected. The experiment-wide CCSD-associated SNPs explained 82% of the phenotypic variance of CCSD. Five CCSD-loci on dog chromosomes (CFA) 6, 14, 27, 29 and 31 were in close vicinity of genes shown as causative for hearing loss in human and/or mouse.