Impact of breeding for coat and spotting patterns on the population structure and genetic diversity of an islander endangered dog breed

Abstract First references of the endangered autochthonous Majorcan Ca Me dog date from the 13th century and enhance its skills and adaptability to the orography. Genealogical historical records were traced back to founders. Founder number in the reference population (397), maximum generations traced, and average number of complete generations were 32, 5, and 2.75, respectively. Structure assessment revealed the existence of subpopulations regarding criteria such as owners (402), breeders (55), coat colours (liver, lemon, black and orange) and spotting patterns (piebald, roan, solid colour, tie or star presence). Average inbreeding (F) within colour groups ranged from 6.3–10.4%, for orange and black populations, respectively. F ranged from 9.43–12.22% for roan patterns and star presence, respectively. Tan point markings showed an F coefficient of 5.85%. The study of genetic diversity revealed a slightly different genetic background between subpopulations. Average coancestry between and within coat colours suggested orange and roan traits could be ascribed to the original nuclei, without omitting the high relationships among other subpopulations. Breeding strategy should select breeding pairs holding a relatedness coefficient below 15%. Hence, coat patterns in dog breeds can help preserving the genetic diversity in endangered dogs, even when these are geographically isolated.