The Japanese Akita Inu Club has been working with the Give a Dog a Genome project at the Animal Health Trust (AHT) to use whole genome sequencing to identify the genetic markers which are involved in Sebaceous Adenitis (SA). The sequencing has now been completed by the external laboratory and the data has been made available for the AHT to download. In order to have a good expectation of being able to develop a test, the Japanese Akita Inu Club (JAIC) in the UK and the Japanese Akita Club America (JACA) have begun working together to raise the money to support this additional research and to encourage owners to submit samples to the AHT in order to be involved in the studies.

What happens next?

The amount of data generated for each sample is enormous, around 80-90 GB. It takes time (about 1 week) and a great deal of computing power to download and process the data so that it is ready for analysis. Once this stage is completed the Japanese Akita Inu Sebaceous Adenitis data will be ready for further analysis.

How can this be used to move closer to a test for SA?

SA is thought to have a complex mode of inheritance, which means that more than one genetic variant contributes to the development of SA in each dog. In order to develop a DNA test for SA, all of the variants involved in SA need to be identified. In addition, it is possible that non-genetic factors may play a role also. This means that identifying the genetics variants involved will be difficult, and the following steps are required at the very least.

1. Perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to use in combination with the whole genome sequence information that they have. This requires:
- 50 samples of SA affected dogs
- 50 samples of non-SA affected dogs (healthy dogs over the age of 8 years)
2. Analyze 2 more full genome sequences

This will cost a total of £14,000. We are hoping to raise this money in batches, this first fundraising effort will fund genome sequences.