Analysis of mitochondrial DNA HVR1 haplotype of pure-bred domestic dogs in Japan

To develop DNA markers for forensic analysis, we examined the hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) sequences of 447 pure-bred domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) that had been bred and raised in Japan. HVR1 is a 660-bp stretch of mitochondrial (mt) DNA. Among the 447 HVR1 sequences examined, we identified 58 haplotypes from 47 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and two insertion-deletion (InDel) polymorphisms. The haplotype diversity inferred from inter-breed analysis (N = 154, 88 breeds) was 0.929 ± 0.011. Intra-breed analysis showed that the haplotype diversity of Golden Retrievers (N = 53), Labrador Retrievers (N = 67), Miniature Dachshunds (N = 61), Toy Poodles (N = 62), and Welsh Corgis (N = 50) was 0.624 ± 0.052, 0.722 ± 0.029, 0.922 ± 0.010, 0.877 ± 0.020, and 0.443 ± 0.084, respectively. The results of this genotype analysis were used to construct a dataset consisting of dog mtDNA HVR1 sequences for use in forensic applications in Japan.