Coat Patterns
Piebald
Alternative Names: Parti color, White trim, Irish trim, Splash, Mantle, Extreme white
The Piebald variant causes white spotting, patches and/ or a completely white coat. It can also cause blue eyes, pink or "butterfly" nose, pink eye rims, white toenails and pink paw pads. The Piebald variant, also known as "sp" (for spotting), is found in the MITF gene (known as the S locus).
More Info
Did you know?
Dalmatians are actually colored dogs with lots of white spots, not the other way around! In fact, they are considered to be ticked dogs, and all ticked and roan dogs are born white and develop their spots as they mature.
How it works
Dog with copies of the Piebald variant are likely to show white spotting, patches and/or a white coat, with two copies having a greater effect than one, although the strength of this effect may be influenced by other genes.
Health implications
White spotting is not a color, but a lack of pigment. Pigment is necessary for normal vision and hearing development, so if white spotting covers the area of the ear, the dog may be deaf in that ear. Dogs at greatest risk are those with very few colored spots. This risk does not apply to dogs whose white color is due to the recessive red gene, such as Poodles.
Prevalence
6 in 10 dogs
have one or more copy of this genetic variant in our testing.
Technical Details
| Gene | MITF |
|---|---|
| Also Called | White Spotting (S) Locus |
| Variant | Deletion |
| Chromosome | 20 |
| Coordinate Start | 21,836,232 |
| Coordinate End | 21,836,427 |
All coordinates reference CanFam3.1
References & Credit
Credit to our scientific colleagues:
Körberg, I. B., Sundström, E., Meadows, J. R. S., Pielberg, G. R., Gustafson, U., Hedhammar, Å., … Andersson, L. (2014). A simple repeat polymorphism in the MITF-M promoter is a key regulator of white spotting in dogs. PLoS ONE, 9(8). View the article