N Engl J Med. 2012;367(7):636–646. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1204453

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3508784/pdf/nihms421280.pdf (See also in lecture notes for Taking Advantage of Dog Breed Structure to Understand Health.)

Abstract

For nearly 350 years, veterinary medicine and human medicine have been separate entities, with one geared toward the diagnosis and treatment in animals and the other toward parallel goals in the owners. However, that model no longer fits, since research on diseases of humans and companion animals has coalesced.^1–4 The catalyst for this union has been the completion of the human genome sequence, coupled with draft sequence assemblies of genomes for companion animals.^5,6 Here, we summarize the critical events in canine genetics and genomics that have led to this development, review major applications in canine health that will be of interest to human caregivers, and discuss expectations for the future.