We hope that knowing their estimated birthday gives you another great reason to celebrate your dog and everything that makes them unique.Īlthough it does not pinpoint the exact date of your dog’s birth, the Age Test is comparable to the most accurate methylation clock models available today. Why an estimated birthday? We heard feedback from our customers and fellow dog lovers who want to know when to celebrate their dog’s special day. In these tests, we found that the Age Test predicted 77% of dogs’ ages within 12 months and 95% of dogs’ ages within 22 months. We also tested the model coverage for different intervals, using an independent set of dogs with known ages. This means that if one dog takes the Age Test multiple times, they may receive different estimated birthdays, but we expect 90% to fall within the same prediction interval in the test results. In the 10 remaining tests, we’d expect that his results could be outside this date range. If we ran Oliver’s DNA on the Age Test 100 times, we would expect that in 90 of those 100 tests, his estimated age would be between 6 years, 9 months and 9 years, 9 months-the prediction interval. In this example, Oliver’s estimated age based on his DNA methylation is 8 years, 3 months. With the Age Test, 90% of dogs have a true birthday within 18 months of their estimated birthday. The birthday reported in your dog’s results is an estimated birthday that is in the middle of this interval. The interval tells you the range of dates that are likely to contain your dog’s true birthday. That difference then provides the prediction interval that assesses the accuracy of our model. We then used that independent set of dogs to measure how different our algorithm’s predictions are from the dogs’ true ages. We developed our Age Test algorithm using DNA methylation data from thousands of dogs, then used that algorithm to predict the ages for a different set of dogs with known ages. We can use the amount and position of DNA methylation as a type of “clock” to estimate how old your dog is ( Horvath et al. 2018 Horvath 2013 ), although there are some sites where it increases. Overall, methylation decreases with age ( Field et al. There are published papers showing this method works in dogs, humans, and many other mammals.Īs dogs age, the level of DNA methylation changes in a predictable way. Studying the relationship between methylation and age is a cutting-edge area of science. In the past 10 years, scientists have begun analyzing DNA methylation to estimate age. Methylation refers to a molecular group (one carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms, represented in yellow below) that can be attached to a DNA strand. Methylation doesn’t change the actual genetic code, but it changes how that code is expressed. In fact, DNA methylation is one of the most well-understood epigenetic mechanisms that regulates gene expression in a cell ( Arneson et al. Research on epigenetics has been going on for decades, and scientists have studied DNA methylation specifically for much of that time. ![]() Here, we’ll explain how the Embark Age Test works.ĭNA methylation is the most well-known type of epigenetic marker. Jenna Dockweiler, MS, DVM, DACT, CCRT, CVAT, Veterinary Geneticist at Embark ![]() Additionally, this technology may help pave the way for future discovery in dogs.” DNA methylation offers an additional method for estimating age that veterinarians may now use in conjunction with traditional measures. This is especially true in dogs with unknown histories, like many shelter rescues. “Studies have shown age determination based on physical exam findings in adult dogs (including eye clarity, dental tartar, and tooth wear) does not yield a highly accurate result, despite pet care professionals’ best efforts with available parameters. ![]() That’s why we use the scientific field of epigenetics to estimate your dog’s age based on their DNA. Teeth can also indicate a dog’s age, although not all dogs follow the same progression from puppy teeth to adult teeth, and age is harder to determine after puppyhood.Īge can be notoriously difficult to judge in dogs based on visual cues alone. There are several physical clues that veterinarians use to estimate dog age, including body shape and lens clarity. Specifically, it uses a type of epigenetic marker called DNA methylation. The Embark Age Test uses a dog’s DNA to estimate their calendar age.
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