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Canine Mendelian disease record

Neonatal Encephalopathy with Seizures (NEWS)

Neonatal Encephalopathy with Seizures (NEWS). Autosomal recessive. Observed in 1 of 266 breeds tested in the Sniff Atlas, with measured carrier frequencies drawn from 242,664 dogs (Donner 2023). Per-dog phenotype outcome depends on penetrance, modifiers, and environment; the carrier frequencies below describe variant prevalence, not disease incidence.

OMIA identifier
OMIA:001471-9615
Autosomal recessive
Likely pathogenic / pathogenic
Source dataset
Sniff Atlas v1.0.1 / DOI

The Likely pathogenic / pathogenic grade describes the documented variant's causality, per the Animal Variant Classification Guidelines (AVCG; Boeykens et al. 2024, Front Vet Sci), an ACMG/AMP-style framework curated in OMIA. It grades the variant, not any individual dog. See the full classification table.

About this disease

From OMIA's curated record

Documented in OMIA (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals). This describes the disease as recorded in the published literature, not a prediction for any individual dog. As of 2026-06-03.

Summary

The disorder is characterized by pups that are small at birth, fail to nurse or thrive, then develop neurological signs and usually die by 7 weeks of age. A genetic test is available.

Clinical features

Affected puppies are small at birth and do not develop normally. They initially nurse poorly, but begin nursing sufficiently after several days (Chen et al., 2008). At approximately 3 weeks of age, weakness, ataxia, whole-body tremors, wide-based stance with increased extensor tone, and axial muscle weakness with neck ventroflexion is observed. Affected pups do not interact with the dam or littermates and have slow responses to external stimuli (Chen et al., 2008). At approximately 3 to 6 weeks of age, affected puppies develop generalized clonic-tonic seizures that quickly become refractory to treatment. They become laterally recumbent with extensor rigidity and opisthotonus, and usually die or are euthanized before 7 weeks of age (Chen et al., 2008; Yu et al. 2020).

Molecular genetics

The causative variant is a missense c.152T>G transversion causing a p.M51R methionine to arginine substitution in ATF2 (Chen et al., 2008). The mutation lies in a hydrophobic docking site for protein kinases that activate ATF2. Mutant ATF2 retains partial activity (Chen et al., 2008).

Pathology

The cerebellum is smaller than normal and contains dysplastic foci of cells from the granular layer intermixed with those from the Purkinje layer (Chen et al., 2008). Yu et al. (2020): "Magnetic resonance imaging showed reduced whole-brain size, dilated ventricles, developmental abnormalities of the white matter of the cerebrum, white matter signal abnormalities in the occipital lobe, and abnormal morphology of the cerebellum. Histopathology included previously unrecognized irregular neuronal migration in the subventricular zone around the lateral ventricles in the frontal lobe and white matter rarefaction especially at the level of the occipital lobe in the cerebrum ..,."

Prevalence

Of 1038 standard poodles genotyped, 36% were carriers and 2.7% were affected (Chen et al., 2008).

Control

Relatives of affected pups should be tested to identify carriers. Matings of carriers is discouraged, although breeding them to noncarriers will avoid production of affected pups.

Genetic testing

A test is available.

Human analog

OMIA links this condition to the human gene record in OMIM (Mendelian Inheritance in Man), the place to read across to the deeper human literature for the same biology.

Gene · OMIM 123811

Source: OMIA (Nicholas, Tammen & the Sydney Informatics Hub), entry OMIA:001471-9615, doi:10.25910/2AMR-PV70 (CC-BY 4.0).

The evidence

Published references

The peer-reviewed papers behind this disease, curated by OMIA. Starred entries are OMIA-designated landmark papers.

References curated by OMIA (Nicholas, Tammen & the Sydney Informatics Hub), doi:10.25910/2AMR-PV70 (CC-BY 4.0). Full list at the OMIA entry.

Predict a litter

Set each parent's status for Neonatal Encephalopathy with Seizures (NEWS) and see the odds for their puppies. Single recessive variant, exact Mendelian math.

Parent A
Parent B
NNClear
NmCarrier
NmCarrier
mmAffected
Clear25%
Carrier50%
Affected25%

These are the genetic odds for one known variant, not a promise: a real litter varies around them, and penetrance or other genes can change whether the condition ever appears. Use it to avoid pairing two carriers and to keep a line healthy, not to engineer a dog. Inheritance mode per OMIA.
Your breed

See what Neonatal Encephalopathy with Seizures (NEWS) looks like in your dog's breed.
Carrier frequency by breed

Top 1 well-sampled breeds (n ≥ 50)

Maximum per breed across variants in the Donner 2023 cohort, with . The list below is split into well-sampled breeds (n ≥ 50 tested) and small-sample breeds (n < 50, where the Wilson CI typically spans more than 20 percentage points and frequencies should not be compared directly to the well-sampled entries). Frequencies are population-level, not per-litter or per-line.

0%1%2%
Poodle Standard0.64% · n 4,203
n = 4,203 dogs · Donner et al. 2023 carrier-screening cohort · Sniff Atlas
Each bar is one well-sampled breed; the whisker is its Wilson 95% CI, and fainter bars have wider intervals. Frequencies are population-level, not per-litter. Carrier status for Neonatal Encephalopathy with Seizures (NEWS) is measured; phenotype outcome depends on penetrance and modifiers.
▸ Full table with Wilson 95% confidence intervals
Breed Carrier frequency n tested
Poodle Standard 0.64% 4,203

265 additional breeds in the Donner 2023 cohort were tested but showed no carriers.

Scope of this record

Scope

This record carries the breed-level carrier frequencies from the Donner 2023 cohort. Penetrance data (the fraction of at-risk dogs that develop the phenotype) is not yet quantified for this disease in the Sniff Atlas v1.0.1. The OMIA entry is the authoritative reference for the clinical phenotype, inheritance pattern, and gene assignment.

Predicted disease relevance at the per-dog level is UNPROVEN. The carrier frequency is measured; phenotype outcome depends on penetrance, environment, and modifier loci. Consult a veterinarian for clinical interpretation.

How to cite this record

Citations

If you use this record in published work, cite the Sniff Atlas (the published dataset that carries the breed-level carrier frequencies) and the upstream sources:

  • Sniff Atlas v1.0.1 for the per-breed carrier frequencies:

    Gehring, M. (2026). Sniff Atlas v1.0.1. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20566358. CC-BY 4.0.

  • OMIA for the disease definition, inheritance, and gene assignment:

    Nicholas, F. W., & Tammen, I. (2024). OMIA. Sydney Informatics Hub, The University of Sydney. https://doi.org/10.25910/2AMR-PV70. Entry: OMIA:001471-9615.

  • Donner et al. 2023 for the breed × variant carrier-frequency cohort:

    Donner, J., Freyer, J., Davison, S., Anderson, H., Blades, M., Honkanen, L., et al. (2023). Genetic prevalence and clinical relevance of canine Mendelian disease variants in over one million dogs. PLOS Genetics, 19(2), e1010651. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010651.

Full citation formats (BibTeX, RIS, CITATION.cff) at sniff.world/cite.

Related

Related

Last updated
Sources: Sniff Atlas v1.0.1 · OMIA OMIA:001471-9615 · Donner et al. 2023