Animal/Human DNA

eleos1954 said:

So, we are able to "identify" one person from another through their DNA ... unique to the individual.

Is this able to be done in within different the animal groups? ie.. unique DNA being able to identify dog A from dog B ... both of which are of the exact same breed?

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I suspect that could be done.

I've always assumed it would be the case since animals have features that make each one of them unique just like humans have unique fingerprints, but I would also be interested in seeing such a study.

From what I have been able to find, with DNA testing they can identify the dogs breed background. Like, say, Rover is half beagle, quarter jack and quarter Chihuahua. In most cases this could be used to identify two dogs but I am not sure that two puppies in the same litter could be differentiated.

eleos1954 said:

So, we are able to "identify" one person from another through their DNA ... unique to the individual.

Is this able to be done in within different the animal groups? ie.. unique DNA being able to identify dog A from dog B ... both of which are of the exact same breed?

Click to expand...

Humans are animals. If each human has unique DNA then obviously the same applies to non-human animals.
OB

It could certainly be done. DNA is DNA; there is nothing special about human versus dog DNA in that regard.

With human DNA testing there are specific applications for testing individuals (paternity tests, crime scene forensics, etc).

With dog DNA, what would be the purpose of testing to see if a particular dog matched a DNA sample?

They actually do these kinds of tests to prevent trophy hunting of endangered species. They certainly can ID subspecies And since some animals have different blood types they do use that in case they need to be operated on. I don’t think they bother with individuals unless the animal is very well known and is found dead under mysterious circumstances. But this is forensics at that point.

eleos1954 said:

Perhaps but I wanted to see the scientific data DNA unique (animal - non-human) ... haven't been able to find anything about it. Nothing "obvious" in science, it has to be both observable and testable ... looking for the "tests" in this regard.

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As someone with extensive experience in genotyping the answer is yes, it can be done, and if you'd like some tests then pick your animal and send me about $10 000 000 to do the work.

...and that is why there are no available tests. Noone has wanted to know about this badly enough to spend the money that needs to be spent to generate the data.

There appear to be a number of dog DNA testing services, e.g. PooPrints & Mr Dog Poop. Three years ago, a London borough was intending to combat dog fouling by testing dog poo DNA against a database of registered dogs. I suspect it was a hustle, because I've not heard anything since, but it is theoretically possible.

eleos1954 said:

So, we are able to "identify" one person from another through their DNA ... unique to the individual.

Is this able to be done in within different the animal groups? ie.. unique DNA being able to identify dog A from dog B ... both of which are of the exact same breed?

Click to expand...

eleos1954 said:

So, we are able to "identify" one person from another through their DNA ... unique to the individual.

Is this able to be done in within different the animal groups? ie.. unique DNA being able to identify dog A from dog B ... both of which are of the exact same breed?

Click to expand...

There's a company called Easy DNA offering DNA profiling for horses etc.

This is an extract from their website:
OB
EDIT:
The American Paint Horse Association also uses DNA testing to establish parentage.

eleos1954 said:

thanks for the link, I'll go check it out ... was just curious about it ... have been looking at DNA, RNA etc. lately.

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Just added a link for the American Paint Horse Association which also uses DNA testing to establish parentage.
Google 'DNA registration for animals' to see more.
OB

Occams Barber said:

Just added a link for the American Paint Horse Association which also uses DNA testing to establish parentage.
Google 'DNA registration for animals' to see more.
OB

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Fascinating. I'd assumed no-one would care enough but I guess with a high enough dollar value animal it got done.

Tanj said:

Fascinating. I'd assumed no-one would care enough but I guess with a high enough dollar value animal it got done.

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I didn't think there would be a market for animal DNA testing until I thought about the horse racing industry and the use of ringers. That's what prompted me to start a Google search.

I'm surprised I didn't come across more DNA stuff connected to horse racing. I suspect it's a potentially big market. There's also a huge market for industries where (proof of) animal pedigree is an issue.
OB

Occams Barber said:

I didn't think there would be a market for animal DNA testing until I thought about the horse racing industry and the use of ringers. That's what prompted me to start a Google search.

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Yep, I am surprised at just how many services there are with a simple "animal DNA testing" google search.

Which leads to the next question...

eleos1954 said:

Have been searching around for it ... haven't found anything ... if you run across something let me know ....

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I am interested to know what "searching around for it" entailed, since it clearly didn't entail any internet search engine.

Tanj said:

Which leads to the next question...

I am interested to know what "searching around for it" entailed, since it clearly didn't entail any internet search engine.

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Looking under the bed?
OB

Occams Barber said:

Looking under the bed?
OB

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Yellow pages? There's a section for DNA Paternity Testing but no section for "Animal DNA Testing".

eleos1954 said:

Perhaps but I wanted to see the scientific data DNA unique (animal - non-human) ... haven't been able to find anything about it. Nothing "obvious" in science, it has to be both observable and testable ... looking for the "tests" in this regard.

Click to expand...

Perhaps it is the case that such a thing has never been needed? That is, that nobody has ever needed to use DNA sequence analysis to tell two dogs that look a lot alike apart?

I do know that it is possible to tell different chimps apart, different baboons apart, etc., via DNA analyses, for I have done some (not for the purpose of doing so, but when incorporating more than 1 specimen's DNA sequences in analyses - you can see that they are not 100% identical).