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Canine Mendelian disease record

Progressive Retinal Atrophy, Type III (Discovered in the Tibetan Spaniel and Tibetan Terrier; PRA type III; FAM161A-related)

Progressive Retinal Atrophy, Type III (Discovered in the Tibetan Spaniel and Tibetan Terrier; PRA type III; FAM161A-related). Autosomal recessive. Observed in 1 of 266 breeds tested in the Sniff Atlas, with measured carrier frequencies drawn from 242,660 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:001918-9615
Autosomal recessive
Source dataset
Sniff Atlas v1.0.1 / DOI
The human connection

A model of human retinitis pigmentosa 28

This is the canine counterpart of retinitis pigmentosa 28 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 retinitis pigmentosa in which the cause of the disease is a mutation in the FAM161A gene.

In humans it is also called: RP28, FAM161A retinitis pigmentosa, retinitis pigmentosa type 28, RP 28.

MONDO:0011630 OMIM 606068

Mapped from OMIA via the human disease's OMIM entry to the Mondo Disease Ontology (Monarch Initiative, CC-BY 4.0). 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

Renamed from "Retinal atrophy, progressive, type 3, FAM161A-related" to "Retinal atrophy, progressive, FAM161A-related" [01/082024]

Molecular genetics

Encouraged by the fact that a comparative (human) candidate gene (namely FAM161A, mutations in which cause retinosis pigmentosa (RP) 28) shows conserved synteny with the candidate region identified in their GWAS (see Mapping section), Downs and Mellersch (2014) next-gen sequenced the 3.8Mb candidate region in 4 affected, 2 obligate carriers and 2 unaffecteds, identifying the most likely candidate causal variant as a large insertion in the region of exon 5 of FAM161A. Subsequent Sanger-sequencing of this region in 29 affecteds, 10 obligate carriers and 41 unaffecteds identified a ~230bp insertion containing a 132bp short interspersed nuclear element (SINE), near the splice acceptor site of exon 5. As reported by Downs and Mellersch (2014), "Analysis of mRNA from an affected dog revealed that the SINE causes exon skipping, resulting in a frame shift, leading to a downstream premature termination codon and possibly a truncated protein product."
Stanbury et al. (2024) investigated English Shepherds which "were diagnosed with PRA at approximately 5 years old and tested clear of all published PRA genetic variants. ... [The authors] utilised a combined approach of whole genome sequencing of the probands and homozygosity mapping of four cases and 22 controls and identified a short interspersed nuclear element within an alternatively spliced exon in FAM161A. The XP_005626197.1 c.17929_ins210 variant was homozygous in six PRA cases and heterozygous or absent in control dogs, consistent with a recessive mode of inheritance. The insertion is predicted to extend exon 4 by 39 aberrant amino acids followed by an early termination stop codon."

Prevalence

While the FAM161A insertion reporteed by Downs and Mellersch (2014) has strong claims to being causative (see Molecular section), the authors cautioned that heterogeneity exists: "This [FAM161A, omia.variant:925] mutation segregates with the disease in 22 out of 35 cases tested (63%). Of the PRA controls, none are homozygous for the mutation, 15% carry the mutation and 85% are homozygous wildtype. This mutation was also identified in Tibetan Terriers, although our results indicate that PRA is genetically heterogeneous in both Tibetan Spaniels and Tibetan Terriers."

Inheritance

Bjerkas and Narfstrom (1994) reported data supporting autosomal recessive inheritance.

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 606068 Gene · OMIM 613596

Source: OMIA (Nicholas, Tammen & the Sydney Informatics Hub), entry OMIA:001918-9615, doi:10.25910/2AMR-PV70 (CC-BY 4.0).

Signs & cross-references

How it presents

Catalogued in the Mondo disease ontology (the cross-species disease identity used by the Monarch Initiative) as retinitis pigmentosa 28 (MONDO:0011630).

Phenotype terms: Human Phenotype Ontology + Mammalian Phenotype Ontology; disease terms: Mondo (Monarch Initiative). Cross-references curated by OMIA (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 8.

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 Progressive Retinal Atrophy, Type III (Discovered in the Tibetan Spaniel and Tibetan Terrier; PRA type III; FAM161A-related) 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 Progressive Retinal Atrophy, Type III (Discovered in the Tibetan Spaniel and Tibetan Terrier; PRA type III; FAM161A-related) looks like in your dog's breed.
Carrier frequency by breed

Observed only in small-sample breeds

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.

▸ Also observed in 1 small-sample breed (n < 50)

Frequencies in this section are statistical estimates with wide Wilson 95% confidence intervals (typically >20 percentage points). Treat these as "carriers observed but the true population frequency is not yet measurable" rather than as comparable to the well-sampled entries above.

Breed Estimate n tested
Tibetan Spaniel 1.4% 37

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:001918-9615.

  • 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:001918-9615 · Donner et al. 2023