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Canine Mendelian disease record

Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis 12 (Discovered in the Australian Cattle Dog)

Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis 12 (Discovered in the Australian Cattle Dog). Autosomal recessive. Observed in 4 of 265 breeds tested in the Sniff Atlas, with measured carrier frequencies drawn from 242,652 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:001552-9615
Autosomal recessive
Pathogenic
Source dataset
Sniff Atlas v1.0.1 / DOI

The 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.

The human connection

A model of human autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia type 78

This is the canine counterpart of autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia type 78 in people. That makes affected dogs a naturally-occurring model of the human disease, and it is part of why studying dogs moves medicine forward for everyone. It does not mean your dog has the human disease. It means the two share an underlying biology.

In people, the disease is described as: Any hereditary spastic paraplegia in which the cause of the disease is a mutation in the ATP13A2 gene.

In humans it is also called: SPG78, ATP13A2 hereditary spastic paraplegia, spastic paraplegia 78, autosomal recessive.

MONDO:0014975 OMIM 606693OMIM 617225

Mapped from OMIA via the human disease's OMIM entry to the Mondo Disease Ontology (Monarch Initiative, CC-BY 4.0). Closely related human conditions exist for this gene. Sniff renders this as a model-of link; the canine disease remains the subject of this page.

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 neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs) are a group of lysosomal storage diseases characterized by intraneuronal accumulation of fluorescent granules and early neuronal death. In the Tibetan terrier, changes in behavior and vision begin at 4-6 years of age. A genetic test is available.

Clinical features

Behavioral signs usually appear around 4 to 6 years of age (Katz et al., 2005, Katz et al., 2007, Farias et al., 2011). Signs include behavioral changes, cognitive decline, cerebellar ataxia, dementia, seizures, nervousness, aggressiveness, loss of training, hypersensitivity to stimuli, loss of coordination, tremors, retinal degeneration, depressed rod function, some impairment of cone function, moderate visual impairment in low light, but good visual acuity in bright light.

Molecular genetics

By sequencing the likely positional candidate gene mentioned in the Mapping section (above), Farias et al (2011) identified the causative mutation as a single base deletion in ATP13A2, namely "c.1,623delG, which predicted a frame shift and premature termination codon (p.P541fsX597)". Later that same year, Wöhlke et al. (2011) confirmed the same mutation, but called it c.1620delG, and stated that it "causes an alternative splicing of exon 16 but not a frameshift mutation with a premature termination codon as previously supposed [by Farias et al., 2011]". They went on to explain that "As a result of the in-frame loss of exon 16, the ATP13A2 protein is shortened by 69 amino acids. Therefore, all NCL-affected Tibetan terriers in the present study can synthesize this shortened ATP13A2 protein. In humans, all three isoforms do not lack exon 16. This new insight on the structure of the mutated protein may explain why Tibetan terriers express only mild neurodegenerative symptoms and the onset of the disease is late in life." The sequence information provided by Wöhlke et al. (2011) in their Figure corresponds to transcript XM_005617949.3:c.1623del. Schmutz et al. (2019): "Whole genome sequence analysis of one of [three affected Australian Cattle] . . . dogs revealed a homozygous c.1118C > T variant in ATP13A2 that predicts a nonconservative p.(Thr373Ile) amino acid substitution. All 3 affected dogs were homozygous for this variant, which was heterozygous in 42 of 394 unaffected Australian Cattle Dogs, the remainder of which were homozygous for the c.1118C allele. "

Pathology

There is widespread accumulation of autofluorescent lysosomal storage material throughout the cerebral cortex, retina, and cerebellum. Stored material appears as stacks of membranes in whorls or parallel arrays, or coarsely granular and lipid-like substances. Components of this material include glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and histone H4 (Katz et al., 2007).

Prevalence

As NCL is rare in other breeds, it is more common by comparison in the Tibetan terrier, which is likely due to the relatively small breeding population and adult onset of signs (Katz et al., 2005). Schmutz et al. (2019) "genotyped the [c.1118C>T] variant in a cohort of 397 Australian Cattle Dogs, which included the 3 known cases, dog D, 26 unaffected Australian Cattle Dogs older than 6 years of age and 367 population controls. This revealed a perfect association of the genotypes with the phenotype (Table 2). All three affected dogs carried the variant in homozygous state. Dog D, the sire of the two affected dogs was heterozygous (obligate carrier). Among the other 393 Australian Cattle dogs, we observed 352 dogs that were homozygous wildtype and 41 dogs that were heterozygous and presumably carriers for the disease. These data indicate that among the Australian Cattle Dogs that were sampled, the carrier frequency is around 10%. Because of sampling bias in our population, the carrier frequency among all Australian Cattle Dogs may be different. We also genotyped 555 dogs from genetically diverse breeds. None of these dogs carried the ATP13A2:c.1118C > T variant".

Genetic testing

There is a test available.

Human analog

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

Disease · OMIM 606693 Disease · OMIM 617225 Gene · OMIM 610513

Source: OMIA (Nicholas, Tammen & the Sydney Informatics Hub), entry OMIA:001552-9615, 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. Showing 6 of 14.

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 Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis 12 (Discovered in the Australian Cattle Dog) 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 Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis 12 (Discovered in the Australian Cattle Dog) looks like in your dog's breed.
Carrier frequency by breed

Top 4 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%3%5%
Australian Cattle Dog1.2% · n 982
Russell Terrier0.21% · n 239
Schnauzer Miniature<0.1% · n 4,637
American Staffordshire Terrier<0.1% · n 42,792
n = 48,650 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 Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis 12 (Discovered in the Australian Cattle Dog) is measured; phenotype outcome depends on penetrance and modifiers.
▸ Full table with Wilson 95% confidence intervals
Breed Carrier frequency n tested
Australian Cattle Dog 1.2% 982
Russell Terrier 0.21% 239
Schnauzer Miniature <0.1% 4,637
American Staffordshire Terrier <0.1% 42,792

261 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:001552-9615.

  • 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:001552-9615 · Donner et al. 2023