Providing a unique DNA profile to identify a dog or performing paternity to qualify a sire is not new. In both humans and canines, these services have been around for decades, but so has the technology. The use of microsatellite markers has been the mainstream technology for identifying people and dogs since the early 1980’s. However, these particular markers are best used to exclude a suspect or exclude a sire, but trying to prove identity or prove that a sample is from the one and only possible sire is much more difficult.
Welcome to the 21st century! The old microsatellite markers were just not good enough, in some cases, to distinguish a sire from his sons or brothers from one another. And in true Paw Print Genetics fashion, we are just compelled to do everything better than anyone else! Introducing single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs. These are small changes in the DNA that tend to be different between individuals, including relatives. Paw Print Genetics is using a proprietary set of 99 distinct SNPs found in different locations throughout the canine genome to uniquely identify individuals and better qualify sires.
Take a look at the ‘heat map’ ...