Why Huskies have blue eyes? The genetic study reveals the answer

The piercing blue eyes of a husky are a big part of the race's charm – one that lets hearts blend to the left and right whenever those adorable wolf-like canines make their appearance.

But no one could understand why these arctic "good boys" are born with pale blue eyes – a feature common to very few breeds of dogs, according to Touch his nose. Touch his nose lists only the Siberian Husky, Australian Shepherd, Border Collie, Dalmatian and Shetland Shepherd as having this distinctive eye color.

Enter the researchers from Cornell University, who are finally beginning to break the mystery, reports reverse.

In a new study published yesterday in the journal PLOS Genetics, a team of scientists from the prestigious New York University gives an explanation to those cerulean eyes that give the Siberian Huskies their wild magnetism – in addition to their ability to pull the sled and hunt prey.

Their findings suggest that this particular dog breed owes its blue-eyed color to a specific chromosome, called the dog's 18 chromosome. This DNA molecule is located near a special gene called ALX4, of which previous studies have shown control of eye development and pigmentation in mammals.

To get to the bottom of things, the scientists have partnered with Embark Veterinary, Inc., a genetics testing company similar to 23andMe – but that performs DNA testing on dogs.

As Aaron Sams, Senior Scientist at Embarque explains, the company's goal is to provide dog owners with "useful and interesting information" about their pet's genome by performing genetic tests that might one day "eliminate preventable diseases in dogs ".

"With these data, we can conduct such studies to better understand the role of genetics and the environment in the development of diseases in dogs, thus improving the lives of both dogs and their owners."

In addition to collecting DNA data to establish the animal's genealogy, breed profile and risk of hereditary diseases, Embark Veterinary also analyzes genetics for specific physical characteristics, such as coat color, his body and his agility. Discover the magazine.

For the purpose of this study, the team looked closely at what gives their Siberian Huskies color to its blue eyes by examining the genetic data of 6,070 mixed and mixed breeds, 156 of which had blue eyes or partially blue eyes.

After examining more than 200,000 genetic markers to see how often they were driving blue-eyed versus brown-eyed, the scientists finally took a break.

"Most of the time, there was no correlation, but in this part of chromosome 18, we found a bunch … in blue-eyed dogs," said Adam Boyko, co-founder of Embark and genomics researcher at Cornell University.

Scientists have finally understood why the Siberian Huskies had icy blue eyes: https://t.co/zdanZFUCxA

– Inverse (@inversedotcom) October 4, 2018

Research has revealed that the Siberian Huskies have this specific chromosome expressed in duplicate, which could explain why this breed may have blue eyes regardless of how they test the merle gene – a gene that randomly dilutes pigmentation at home. the dog, which causes the iridescence of their iris.

The same discovery was made in the case of tricolor Australian shepherds, who also have a canine chromosome 18 duplication.

"Our hypothesis, which has yet to be tested, is that this duplication can alter the expression of ALX4, which could lead to repression of the genes involved in the pigmentation of the eye, "said Sams.

As he said Newsweekdogs carrying a single copy of this mutation are usually born with blue eyes. Nevertheless, in some cases the mutation does not lead to the pigmentation of blue eyes, suggesting that other factors – genetic or environmental – are at stake.

"This is the first discovery that has been made this way outside of humans," Boyko said.

Although researchers still have some way to go before this mechanism is fully understood, Sams believes that these discoveries may one day lead to a scenario in which dog breeders will have the opportunity to choose the eye color of their new litters .