L2-Locus Long Hair (Akita)

Hair length is one of the most important morphological features of dogs. Differences in coat length are visible in various dog breeds, but for some, the breed standard allows only one coat length (long or short variant is unacceptable). One such example is Pembroke Welsh Corgis where longhaired dogs (also called 'fluffies') are not allowed according to the breed standard.

In our laboratory, we test 3 out of 5 known mutations on the FGF5 gene responsible for hair length:

• L1: c.284G> T mutation is responsible for hair length in many dog breeds,

• L2: c.578C> T mutation occurs in Akita, Siberian Husky, and Samoyed breeds

• L4: c.559_560dupGG mutation occurs in French Bulldog, Afghan hounds and Eurasier.

In some breeds more than one mutation can occur. For example, in French Bulldog L1 and L4 mutations can cause long coat.