Data from: Genomic data illuminates demography, genetic structure and selection of a popular dog breed

Background: Genomic methods have proved to be important tools in the
analysis of genetic diversity across the range of species and can be used
to reveal processes underlying both short- and long-term evolutionary
change. This study applied genomic methods to investigate population
structure and inbreeding in a common UK dog breed, the Labrador Retriever.
Results: We found substantial within-breed genetic differentiation, which
was associated with the role of the dog (i.e. working, pet, show) and also
with coat colour (i.e. black, yellow, brown). There was little evidence of
geographical differentiation. Highly differentiated genomic regions
contained genes and markers associated with skull shape, suggesting that
at least some of the differentiation is related to human-imposed selection
on this trait. We also found that the total length of homozygous segments
(runs of homozygosity, ROHs) was highly correlated with inbreeding
coefficient. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that high-density
genomic data can be used to quantify genetic diversity and to decipher
demographic and selection processes. Analysis of genetically
differentiated regions in the UK Labrador Retriever population suggests
the possibility of human-imposed selection on craniofacial
characteristics. The high correlation between estimates of inbreeding from
genomic and pedigree data for this breed demonstrates that genomic
approaches can be used to quantify inbreeding levels in dogs, which will
be particularly useful where pedigree information is missing.