Genetic variants of hemoglobin in canine erythrocytes*

Abstract

Genetic polymorphism of hemoglobin was found in the erythrocytes of dogs of 7 Japanese native breeds by using starch gel electrophoresis. Analysis of parentage records of the dogs revealed that the phenotypic variation of hemoglobin is controlled by 1 autosomal locus with 2 codominant alleles, HbA and HbB. The allele HbA occurred only in Japanese native breeds except Shikoku. The frequency of HbA in the Japanese breeds was low and 0.08. All the dogs belonging to 25 European breeds and 5 oriental origin (except Japan) breeds examined in these experiments had the homozygous genotype constitution HbB/HbB.