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<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>Subject:</B> Japan to Freeze Guide Dog Semen &
Eggs to Create More Guide Dogs<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
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<P><BR><BR><A
href="http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200703100058.html">http://www.asahi.<WBR>com/english/<WBR>Herald-asahi/<WBR>TKY200703100058.<WBR>html</A><BR><BR>Top
dogs will have their day under breeding plan 03/10/2007<BR>BY AKIKO OKAZAKI THE
ASAHI SHIMBUN<BR><BR>Any dog can turn a trick or two, but few have the smarts to
<BR>perform one of the most coveted of of skills--ensuring sight-impaired people
<BR>stay safe. But now researchers say they can vastly increase the number
<BR>of top-notch guide dogs across the nation. Using gene analysis to <BR>select
excellent guide dogs, the team plans to freeze their sperm and ovary <BR>tissue
in a "bio bank." The reproductive matter will then be used to breed a <BR>legion
of outstanding canine escorts. The announcement could not come <BR>soon enough
for Japan's visually impaired community, given the dire shortage <BR>of
high-quality "seeing-eye" companions across the nation. Under the <BR>current
system of seeing-eye dog training, a guide dog proves itself a <BR>polished
performer only after it has lost the chance to breed. By the time <BR>they start
training, the dogs have already been castrated or spayed--a <BR>requirement for
serving the blind as competent guides and friends. But <BR>a research
team<BR>led by Hiroshi Suzuki, a professor of functional genomics at Obihiro
<BR>University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine in Hokkaido, believes it
<BR>can overcome the problem by using preserved sperm and eggs from the best
<BR>dogs to produce more outstanding companions. Suzuki's team found that
<BR>the genes of the best guide dogs all had similarities in their DNA. The
<BR>project was announced Feb. 23 at the annual meeting of the Japan Veterinary
<BR>Medical Association in Saitama. According to Suzuki, nothing like this
<BR>has been attempted before. He intends to start the project in April. As
<BR>of March last year, 952 guide dogs were serving sight-impaired people in
<BR>Japan, according to the National Council of the Agencies for the Welfare of
<BR>the Blind. The figure falls drastically short of the 7,800 people who
<BR>said they wanted seeing-eye dogs in a 1998 survey by the Nippon Foundation,
<BR>which assists guide dog projects. Guide dogs require rigorous and
<BR>extended training.<BR>Male puppies must undergo surgical castration at about
six months. Females <BR>are sterilized at eight to 11 months. At the age of 1,
they are put <BR>through an aptitude test. Successful candidates go on to
training, but only <BR>30 to 40 percent of all candidates become seeing-eye
dogs. To raise <BR>that number, Suzuki's team analyzed the genes of about 200
Labrador <BR>retrievers that underwent training. The research was carried out in
<BR>collaboration with RIKEN, a physics and chemical research institute.
<BR>Their DNA analysis showed a close link between the types of five SNPs
<BR>(single nucleotide polymorphisms) that are believed to affect a dog's
<BR>personality and their success rates. SNPs represent subtle individual
<BR>variations of DNAs. The most successful dogs are friendly and have high
<BR>concentration spans. The analysis revealed that 82 percent of dogs that
<BR>showed all of the five specific SNP types went on to become guide dogs,
<BR>compared with 60 to 70 percent for those<BR>with only one of the five SNPs.
Dogs with none had a 20 percent <BR>success rate. To compile a database of
"excellent genes," Suzuki's team <BR>will analyze more dogs in collaboration
with nine groups that breed or train <BR>guide dogs. The team also plans to
start a bio bank which will offer <BR>sperm or eggs at the request of breeders.
Frozen sperm has already been <BR>used to produce puppies. The team has also
implanted frozen ovarian tissue <BR>into a host female dog to find out if a
puppy can be produced. It is still <BR>awaiting results of that experiment.
Yoshihiro Hayashi, an agricultural <BR>and life sciences expert, supports the
idea. The University of Tokyo <BR>professor, who heads the Society for the Study
of Human-Animal Relations, <BR>said service dogs like seeing-eye dogs must stay
fit and healthy because <BR>their duties are so demanding. "Reducing
possibilities of genetic <BR>diseases and other risks by conducting more
analysis of dog genes is needed, <BR>not just for<BR>people but for the welfare
of dogs," Hayashi said. "I think there will <BR>be no ethical problems because
the genetic information of dogs is different <BR>from personal information of
human beings."(IHT/<WBR>Asahi: March 10,2007)<BR><BR></P></DIV><!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlStart|**|-~--><SPAN
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