How does DNA analysis of your pet work?

Remember those Biology classes when you had to learn about the 'A' (big A) and the 'a' (little a)? Often, besides making absolutely no sense, you were sure you'd never hear about it again? In that sense, we can say that everything you learned (or didn't learn) in those classes will help you understand how your pet's genetic testing works.

So to begin, let's review some very basic concepts. The 'A' (like the 'A' in the 'A') and the 'a' (like the 'a' in the 'a') are different forms of the same gene, which we call variants (or alleles). These different forms of genes can modify their function and, therefore, can influence the predisposition to some genetic diseases, the animal's color or coat type. Furthermore, specific sets of many variants function as markers for specific breeds.

At petgenoma, when analyzing your pet's DNA, we simultaneously evaluate over 80,000 different points, which can have the variant 'A' (A-Z) and 'a' (little a) at each point. For this, we use cheek cell samples that you collect yourself with a swab (that big cotton swab). From the swab , we extract the DNA, which is used for the microarray technique, also known as microarray or DNA chip.

Through this technique, it is possible to simultaneously analyze various regions of DNA, using specific probes for each region. Your pet's DNA will bind to these probes, and with the use of specific dyes for each variant, it becomes possible to identify which variants your pet presents (the 'A' (RAZO) and the 'a' (azinho)). Thus, we determine your pet's genotype, which is the pair of variants for each of the 80,000 points: 'AA' (RAZO-RAZO), 'Aa' (RAZO-azinho), or 'aa' (azinho-azinho).

After determining the genotypes of each of the more than 80,000 points we evaluated, the bioinformatics part comes into play: using software, we can make some comparisons. To determine the racial composition of your pet, we compare the set of variants determined in the laboratory with those recorded in our sample bank of purebred dogs, which contains more than 250 breeds, with dogs representative of the Brazilian population. And to determine whether or not your pet has any variant related to diseases, we compare its results with what is considered normal in the species, called the "reference genome".

Now that you understand how we do the analysis, how about sending us a sample from your pet? Click here to learn more!