Large scale across-breed genome-wide association study reveals a variant in HMGA2 associated with inguinal cryptorchidism risk in dogs

PLoS One. 2022 May 26;17(5):e0267604. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267604. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Cryptorchidism is the most common congenital sex development disorder in dogs. Despite this, little progress has been made in understanding its genetic background. Extensive genetic testing of dogs through consumer and veterinary channels using a high-density SNP genotyping microarray coupled with links to clinical records presents the opportunity for a large-scale genome-wide association study to elucidate the molecular risk factors associated with cryptorchidism in dogs. Using an inter-breed genome-wide association study approach, a significant statistical association on canine chromosome 10 was identified, with the top SNP pinpointing a variant of HMGA2 previously associated with adult weight variance. In further analysis we show that incidence of cryptorchidism is skewed towards smaller dogs in concordance with the identified variant's previous association with adult weight. This study represents the first putative variant to be associated with cryptorchidism in dogs.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cryptorchidism* / genetics
  • Cryptorchidism* / veterinary
  • Dog Diseases* / genetics
  • Dogs
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • HMGA2 Protein / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

Substances

  • HMGA2 Protein

Associated data

  • Dryad/10.5061/dryad.vhhmgqnwk

Grants and funding

The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.