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Canine Mendelian disease record

Hereditary Ataxia (Discovered in the Norwegian Buhund; KCNIP4-related)

Hereditary Ataxia (Discovered in the Norwegian Buhund; KCNIP4-related). Autosomal recessive. Observed in 0 of 266 breeds tested in the Sniff Atlas, with measured variant frequencies drawn from 242,664 dogs (Donner 2023). Whether a dog carrying this variant is at risk depends on the disease’s inheritance pattern; outcome also depends on penetrance, modifiers, and environment. The frequencies below describe variant prevalence, not confirmed disease incidence.

OMIA identifier
OMIA:002240-9615
Autosomal recessive
Source dataset
Sniff Atlas v1.0.1 / DOI
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 2026-08-27.

Clinical features

Affected Norwegian Buhunds generally present as puppies with slowly progressing abnormalities in gait and balance. There is generally no irregularity of behaviour or demeanour, however they have a broad-based stance and hypermetria in all limbs, truncal ataxia and persistent head tremors (Mari et al., 2018). A bilaterally reduced menace response may be present, however no other abnormalities are likely on physical exam, CBC or serum biochemistry, and no abnormalities have been noted on MRI imaging or CSF sampling in known cases (Mari et al., 2018). IT thanks DVM student Teresa McIntyre, who provided the basis of this contribution in May 2023.

Molecular genetics

By whole-genome sequencing two affected Norwegian Buhund sibs, comparing these sequences against 405 whole-genome sequences from other breeds, and then extensively genotyping the most likely variant, Jenkins et al. (2020) identified the most likely causal variant as "a T to C single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (NC_006585.3:g.88890674T>C), [that] is predicted to cause a tryptophan to arginine substitution in a highly conserved region of the potassium voltage-gated channel interacting protein KCNIP4. This gene has not been implicated previously in hereditary ataxia in any species. Evaluation of KCNIP4 protein expression through western blot and immunohistochemical analysis using cerebellum tissue of affected and control dogs demonstrated that the mutation causes a dramatic reduction of KCNIP4 protein expression. The expression of alternative KCNIP4 transcripts within the canine cerebellum, and regional differences in KCNIP4 protein expression, were characterised through RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry respectively. The voltage-gated potassium channel protein KCND3 has previously been implicated in spinocerebellar ataxia, and our findings suggest that the Kv4 channel complex KCNIP accessory subunits also have an essential role in voltage-gated potassium channel function in the cerebellum and should be investigated as potential candidate genes for cerebellar ataxia in future studies in other species."

Pathology

Histopathology will find mild evidence of neuronal degeneration and reduced Purkinje fibre differentiation in regions of the cerebellum (Mari et al., 2018). IT thanks DVM student Teresa McIntyre, who provided the basis of this contribution in May 2023.

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 608182

Source: OMIA (Nicholas, Tammen & the Sydney Informatics Hub), entry OMIA:002240-9615, doi:10.25910/2AMR-PV70 (CC-BY 4.0).

OMIA curates the disease definition, the clinical description and the reference list. The cross-species disease identity is Monarch's. Sniff renders these and adds the breed-level frequencies, the plain-language summary, and a stated reason wherever a number is missing.

The evidence

Published references

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

  1. Phenotypic and genetic aspects of hereditary ataxia in dogs. · J Vet Intern Med · 2023 · PMID 37341581
  4. Hereditary ataxia in four related Norwegian Buhunds. · J Am Vet Med Assoc · 2018 · PMID 30179085

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.

Your breed

See what Hereditary Ataxia (Discovered in the Norwegian Buhund; KCNIP4-related) looks like in your dog's breed.
Variant frequency by breed

Observed only in small-sample breeds

Maximum variant frequency 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.

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 variant 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:002240-9615.

  • 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:002240-9615 · Donner et al. 2023