Las ik laatst:
Dr. Schmutz of the University of Saskatchewan (who discovered the
brown and blue recessives) wrote me recently to say that there is now
a commercially available test for the blue gene, and there is a
page built at the company (Health Gene) providing it for Great Danes:
http://www.gdca.org/health/breakingnews.htm
This (along with published journal articles on color by this group)
has been added also to the parent website:
http://www.gdca.org/health/breakingnews.htm
For Danes this means that the *mystery* of if a black, never mind
fawn or brindle or harl-bred Dane carries for blues can be solved
using a simple cheek swab for DNA. In a couple of weeks from sending
that in & for less than $100, no breeder ever has to wonder if their
Dane carries for blue. They can find out easily enough and so better
plan their litters. It cuts down on unwanted surprises for sure, for
those breeders who simply elect to find out facts--now you can know
for sure. There are also tests for mask there as well as brown
(called chocolate). Collection sets are free and can be ordered
from the website.
This test applies to *all* breeds carrying the recessive blue
dilution. And before anyone asks me, this isn't the same group that
has been working on Harl and solved merle. This group *did* eliminate
a lot of genes for merle, but Keith Murphy's lab at TAMU is the group
that discovered the merle mutation & is being supported
by the GDCA's Charitable Trust (along with breeder funding) to pursue
the solution to Harlequin. This information is at this page:
http://www.gdca.org/health/merlegene.htm
The journal article about the discovery of merle is there in PDF.
A commercial test for merle is in the works. The same for harlequin
won't come until the research project at TAMU is completed.
Permission to repost is granted.
Best regards, JP Yousha
Ik denk dus dat het voor de Labs ook getest kan worden.
Waren niet mijn ridgebacks trouwens, die waren model die dag, wat een zalig weer was het he? 
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