An Investigation of the Origin of the Kangal Dogs in Turkey: Genetic Distinction Between Kangal, Akbash and Other Dog Populations

Kangal dogs are the most popular dogs of Turkey due to their strength, intelligence and loyalty. They are physically distinguished by having an invariably black mask on a massive head and short, dense hair ranging in colour from dun to steel grey. On the other hand, Akbash dogs are pure white dogs of Western Anatolia. Recently, there has been much controversy about the origin of Kangal dogs. The most commonly used marker for determining the history of populations within a species is the sequence analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). In this work, to provide genetic information about the distinctness of Kangal and Akbash dogs, 585 base pair segment of the mtDNA control region was sequenced from Kangal and Akbashes. Sequences of the Kangal and Akbash dogs examined in the present work were comparatively examined with those of previous works on dogs. As a conclusion, it can be said that Kangal and Akbash dogs might have descended maternally from different origins along the evolutionary history of domestic dogs. This book, therefore provides new insights to researchers interested in population genetics especially in evolutionary history of domestic dogs.