Longevity and major causes of death are heritable in Irish Wolfhound

C.J.A. van Gemert, J.J. Windig, P. Berg*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference paperAcademic

Abstract

Irish Wolfhound (IW) is a large dog breed developed several centuries ago with an average longevity of 7 years The genetics behind the short lifespan is poorly understood. Based on data from the Irish Wolfhound database (IWDB) on 118,095 pedigreed IW and data from the IW Longevity Study including 10,122 dogs with known longevity and 6,057 of these having a known cause of death (COD), longevity and the two most common COD were analysed. Heritability, maternal effects, and correlations were estimated accounting for sex, birthyear, country of origin and inbreeding coefficient. Both longevity (0.27) and COD (0.17-0.20) were moderately heritable. Longevity and COD showed low correlations, both genetic and residual correlations. We argue that this is likely due to short longevity being caused by early aging and COD being specific expressions of early aging. In addition, inbreeding was found to significantly reduce longevity. Implications for increasing longevity in IW are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of 12th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (WCGALP)
Subtitle of host publicationTechnical and species orientated innovations in animal breeding, and contribution of genetics to solving societal challenges
EditorsR.F. Veerkamp, Y. de Haas
Place of PublicationWageningen
PublisherWageningen Academic Publishers
Pages3109-3112
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9789086869404
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Jul 2022
EventWorld Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (2022) - Rotterdam, Netherlands
Duration: 3 Jul 20228 Jul 2022

Conference/symposium

Conference/symposiumWorld Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (2022)
Abbreviated titleWCGALP 2022
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityRotterdam
Period3/07/228/07/22

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