Full text: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/26/science/26DOG.html

Scientific Team Puts Together a Rough Draft of a Dog Genome
By NICHOLAS WADE

Published: September 26, 2003

Researchers have pieced together a draft of the dog genome, the sequence of DNA units that includes all the genetic instructions needed to make a dog. The draft is very rough — there are millions of gaps in the 2.4-billion-unit genome — but it is enough to draw certain conclusions about the nature of dogginess.

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The dog genome is of interest to medical researchers because dogs get many of the same diseases that people do. And it is easier to hunt among small inbreeding populations — whether of people or of breeds of dog — for the variant genes that cause disease.

Another reason for sequencing the dog genome, Dr. Venter said, was to understand the links between genes and behavior, through the fact that different breeds of dog have been selected for different behaviors.

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