Analysis of the canine brain transcriptome with an emphasis on the hypothalamus and cerebral cortex. Dog Brain Transcriptome

The diversity of dog breeds make the domestic dog a valuable model for identifying genes responsible for many phenotypic and behavioral traits. The brain in particular, is a region of interest for the analysis of molecular changes that are involved in dog-specific behavioral phenotypes. However, such studies are handicapped due to incomplete annotation of the dog genome. We present a high coverage transcriptome of the dog brain using RNA-Seq. Two areas of the brain, hypothalamus and cerebral cortex, were selected for their roles in cognition, emotion and neuroendocrine functions.