Roan, ticked and spotted coat patterns in the canine are associated with a novel coat patterning region on canine CFA38

White coat patterning is a feature of many dog breeds and is known to be coded primarily by the gene Micropthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF). This patterning in the coat can be modified by other factors to produce the attractive patterns termed “ticked” and “roan” that both describe the presence of flecks of color that vary in distribution and intensity within otherwise “clear” white markings. The appearance of the pigment in the white markings caused by ticking and roaning intensifies in the weeks after birth. We applied genome-wide association to compare English cocker spaniels of roan phenotype (N=34) with parti-color English cocker spaniels (N=9) and identified an associated locus on CFA 38.