Can a dog's breed be determined via DNA?

[Maxxxie]

I guess the title says it all.

Is it possible to identify what breed a dog is through its DNA or some other test?

I’ve often wondered about this - a lot of places might sell, for example, a dog they claim is a german shepherd… but how do you really KNOW?

Just curious

Max.

[Ice_Wolf]

Apparently, no, DNA can’t be used to differentiate between breeds of domestic dog. The following, from a Veterinary Genetics Lab site’s FAQ:

At this time there are no breed-specific markers that can be identified in every member of a given breed. We can only make an educated quess as to the likelihood of a group of animals belonging to a particular breed. DNA typing can distinguish different “species” such as determining if a sample came from a horse or a cow, but if the animals are all of the same specie
we cannot distinguish breed or race.

DNA testing, however, is used to determine pedigree within a breed, such as for German Shepherds.

[Smeghead]

It probably COULD be done, at least for some breeds, with some percentage of probablility, with enough work. It’s just that no one has bothered to find, as that quote said, breed-specific markers.

[GuyMontag]

*Originally posted by Smeghead *
**It probably COULD be done, at least for some breeds, with some percentage of probablility, with enough work. It’s just that no one has bothered to find, as that quote said, breed-specific markers. **

It will most likely never be explored unless some profit can be found in doing so. I’ve found that, for the most part, anything medical having to do with animals is primarily geared toward making money. For example,your veterinarian ever offered you a vaccine for your pet bunny? These vaccines are not available commonly b/c there are not enough pet bunnies to justify the research & development and then mass produce said vaccine. Same thing with the DNA testing. No potential profit, so no exploration.