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Small pooch? It’s all in the genes
[mis à jour le 10 April 2007 à 14h02]
Why are breeds like the Yorkshire terrier and the Maltese so small? The reason for these pint-sized pooches lies in their DNA. And we owe this discovery – because discovery it is! – to a research team at the University of Utah in the United States.
Everyone suspected it but nobody had yet managed to prove it. Then two American biologists, Gordon Clark and Kevin Chase, decided to explore the genes of our furry friends. Their aim was to solve once and for all that smallest of canine secrets – the reason why some dogs are no larger than kittens.
And they succeeded! The explanation was found in a Lilliputian sequence of chromosome 15. According to the researchers, this “appears to reduce the activity of a growth gene known as IGF1”. In humans this gene contributes to our growth during the entire period from birth to the end of adolescence. It then passes on the baton to another gene. So next time someone asks you why your little dog is so small you’ll know what to tell them!
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