In silico Mining of Protein-coding and Non-coding RNA (ncRNA) Specific Genes in Exotic versus Indigenous Gaddi Dogs

Background: Comparative functional genomics will aid in the molecular identification of diverse dog breeds. Methods: The current proposal aimed at conducting a differential study between the genomes of exotic canines (Labrador, Basenji, Tasha-Boxer breed, Mischka breed German Shepherd, Zoey breed Great Dane) and indigenous (Gaddi) breeds through whole genome annotation. Result: The prediction analysis by GeneMark tool yielded an average of 46484 transcripts, in Gaddi dogs and exotic breeds ranging from 29669 to 30956. A total of 57 miRNAs were discovered in exotic breeds and 22 miRNAs in Gaddi dogs, 18 are common in both, while 4 were unique to Gaddi dogs. lncRNA was predicted using the PLEK, CPAT, and LGC tools, resulting in 3201, 396, and 4188 noncoding sequences in exotic breeds, respectively. Approximately, 31 thousand lncRNA transcripts were identified in the Gaddi dog genome. Microsatellites were found to be distributed through approximately 0.3% of both genomes. The average island length of CpG ranged between 24246.48 to 28080.66 in exotic breeds at chromosome level assembly and 697.15 in indigenous Gaddi dogs at contig level assembly. The predicted protein-coding genes were subjected to pathway analysis by DAVID and PANTHER. Five genes that are expressed in the blood (INSL3, CLDN3, MYH1, CLN5, and GALC) were selected for validation through qPCR. The results indicated that the genes were expressed in both groups. Conclusion: The study is the maiden report on the comparative genome analysis between indigenous Gaddi dogs and exotic dog breeds. The findings set the stage for further research into the known and novel genes, which might be employed as biomarkers for disease diagnosis and to investigate their regulatory role. other: Acknowledgment: The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding provided by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, through the collaborative research project “Parentage Determination and Cytogenetic Profiling in Dogs (DBT-19I)” and Dr. S.K Mahajan, who assisted with sample collection, deserves special recognition.