Kinship testing is performed between individuals in the first line (father, mother, offspring). This method does not allow to determine the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren or between siblings.
Genotyping is necessary to determine parentage of pigeons (however, it may also be helpful in the case of identification of stolen pigeons).
In the COBA laboratory, genetic profiling is performed based on the guidelines of the International Society of Animal Genetics (ISAG). Testing pigeon relatedness involves comparing genetic profiles, the so-called genetic fingerprints, of potential parents and offspring. The profile of each examined individual consists of 16 microsatellite DNA sequences characterised by high individual variability.
The selection of these sequences makes it possible to determine a unique genetic profile (genetic fingerprint) for each pigeon, which is unchangeable throughout its life.
If the genetic profiles between parents and youngsters match, we issue the kinship certificate only if the samples for testing were collected by the staff of our laboratory.
