-With a simple cheek swab, you can uncover DNA-based insights that may help you understand your dog's unique appearance, behaviors and wellness needs
-Adult weight range prediction to help you make appropriate nutrition and diet choices
-Breed insights to help you provide a better training program, understand behavior
-You will be emailed an official Ancestry Report revealing your dog's a genetic background
-This single test allows you to test Mixed Breed, Purebred or Designer Dog breed ancestry back to great-grandparents
What is Wisdom Panel®?
In the case of a mixed-breed dog, your dog has inherited traits from his ancestors just like you did from your family. But, just like you don’t look exactly like your grandparents, the same is true for your lovable mutt. When you combine the DNA from different purebreds, you create a one-of-a-kind mixed-breed dog like yours. As it can be difficult to identify ancestral breeds by visual identification, using your dog’s DNA to determine the ancestral breeds is much more accurate.
Knowing your dog’s ancestry can help you create a tailored wellness program to fit their one-of-a-kind needs. Wisdom Panel® tests are simple DNA tests that reveal the breeds in your dog’s ancestry. Wisdom Panel incorporates ancestry analysis for mixed-breed dogs, as well as the purebred and designer dog tests. All versions of the test provide ancestry validation, breed information and a predicted weight profile. Wisdom Panel This is version 4.0.
Wisdom Panel will analyze your dog’s DNA using a proprietary computer algorithm and breed database to identify the breed(s) present in their recent ancestry. If you think your dog is purebred or cross between two different breeds (a designer dog), you can indicate this during kit activation. The Wisdom Panel computer algorithm will still evaluate your dog’s signature against all the breeds in the database, but will also perform additional analyses that will tell you how your dog’s DNA compares with other purebred or designer dogs of the same breed(s) you selected.
How do the Wisdom Panel® reports show a mixed-breed dog's results?
Wisdom Panel® breaks down a dog’s lineage in the form of an ancestry tree. This allows you to see which breeds are present at the parent, grandparent, and great-grandparent levels. Keep in mind that a parent contributes 50% of their DNA to the puppy, while a grandparent contributes about 25% and great-grandparent approximately 12.5%. If a purebred is not present, you will see a mixed breed tag or the ancestral group symbol in its place.
Because each of these levels contributes different amounts of DNA to a dog, their influence in your dog’s physical and behavioral traits will vary. For example, with a parental breed, you are likely to see some of the physical and behavioral traits from this breed represented in your dog. Some traits present in one or both parents may not be observed in your dog because they are recessive traits. Examples of recessive traits include longhair (in most breeds), a clear yellow or red hair coat, a brown or chocolate hair coat, and "prick" or upright ear set (e.g. like a German Shepherd Dog). It is unlikely that you will see traits from breeds at the grandparent level unless they are dominant traits (traits that require only one copy of the gene variant to show it). Examples of dominant traits include shorthair (in most breeds), black hair coat, black nose, a "drop" or down ear set (e.g. like a Beagle), and merle/dapple (e.g. like an Australian Shepherd or Great Dane).
Not only does the computer analyze a dog’s DNA for the breeds and their likely proportions in the dog’s ancestry, but it also models which side of the dog’s ancestry each breed is likely coming from.
How does Wisdom Panel® work?
Testing your dog with Wisdom Panel® swab tests begins when you use the cheek swabs to collect a DNA sample from inside your dog’s cheek and then send the swabs into the laboratory. Once your sample is received at our lab it is scanned into our database and assigned to a batch for testing. It then undergoes processing to extract the DNA from your dog’s cells, which is examined for the 1800 markers that are used in the tests. The results of these markers are sent to a computer that evaluates them using an algorithm designed to consider all of the pedigree trees that are possible in the last three generations for your dog. Our computer algorithm uses information from our extensive breed database to analyze these potential pedigrees and determine which one is the best fit.
The computer algorithm gives each of the millions of combinations of ancestry trees built and considered a score representing how well that selected combination of breeds matches your dog’s data. The pedigree with the overall best score is selected and provided to you in your dog’s individualized report. It normally takes 2-3 weeks from the time a sample is received for the genetic testing and analysis to be completed.
In addition, the Wisdom Panel tests screen for the MDR1 genetic mutation. This mutation in the MDR1 or Multi-Drug Resistance 1 gene is found in many of the herding breeds. The MDR1 gene is responsible for production of a protein called P-glycoprotein. The P-glycoprotein molecule is a drug transport pump that plays an important role in limiting drug absorption and distribution (particularly to the brain) and enhancing the excretion of many drugs used in dogs. As a result, dogs with this mutation may have adverse reactions to some common drugs, so it is important to test your dog and share your results with your veterinarian so they can provide you with the best possible care. For example, your veterinarian may prescribe lower doses of certain medications or avoid some medications entirely if your dog is positive for the MDR1 mutation. This mutation is sometimes referred to as "ivermectin sensitivity", though this name is a misnomer because many medications are affected by the MDR1 mutation.