Genome-wide association study concerning idiopathic epilepsy in Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen

The dog breed Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen has a relatively high prevalence of idiopathic epilepsy compared to other dog breeds and previous studies have suggested a genetic cause of the disease in this breed. Based on these observations, a genome wide association study was performed to identify possible epilepsy-causing loci. The study included 30 unaffected and 23 affected dogs, genotyping of 170K SNPs, and data analysis using PLINK and EMMAX. Suggestive associations at CFA13, CFA24 and CFA35 were identified with markers close to three strong candidate genes. However, subsequent sequencing of exons of the three genes did not reveal sequence variations, which could explain development of the disease. This is to our knowledge the first report on loci and genes with a possible connection to idiopathic epilepsy in Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen. However, further studies are needed to conclusively identify the genetic cause of idiopathic epilepsy in this dog breed.