Whippet — Hypermuscularity; gross muscle hypertrophy; 'bully' whippets (hereditary; OMIA-verified breed predisposition)

--- license: permission_granted topic_id: companion_breed_health_whippet_hypermuscularity_gross_muscle_hypertrophy_bully_whippets_dog category: companion-breed-health title: "Whippet — Hypermuscularity; gross muscle hypertrophy; 'bully' whippets (hereditary; OMIA-verified breed predisposition)" lang: en source: "OMIA (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals, University of Sydney) breed-specific hereditary-disorder record, saved verbatim to source_file; C1 substring-verified. Pulled 2026-08-02 from local OMIA database dump." source_file: pdf-raw/breed-health/whippet_hypermuscularity_gross_muscle_hypertrophy_bully_whippets_3103.txt date_parsed: 2026-08-02 tokens_estimated: 318 verification: method: substring_match claims: 6 passed: 6 date: 2026-08-02 recovered: false path: companion-breed-health/companion_breed_health_whippet_hypermuscularity_gross_muscle_hypertrophy_bully_whippets_dog/01_companion_breed_health_whippet_hypermuscularity_gross_muscle_hypertrophy_bully_whippets_dog.md source_document: "OMIA — Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (University of Sydney)" citation: authority: "OMIA — Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (University of Sydney)" title: "Whippet — Hypermuscularity; gross muscle hypertrophy; 'bully' whippets (hereditary; OMIA-verified breed predisposition)" url: "https://omia.org/OMIA000683/9615/" retrieved: "2026-08-02" ref: "OMIA breed-specific hereditary-disorder records (omia.org), derived from local OMIA database dump; dataset: https://doi.org/10.25910/2AMR-PV70" doc_type: "academic animal-genetics database (breed-specific disorder entries)" needs_review: false

Whippet — Hypermuscularity; gross muscle hypertrophy; 'bully' whippets (hereditary; OMIA-verified breed predisposition)

Source: first-hand OMIA (University of Sydney) breed-specific hereditary-disorder record, saved verbatim to source_file; every claim below is a C1 byte-substring of it.

Claims

• Breed: Whippet (Dog)
• Disorder: Hypermuscularity; gross muscle hypertrophy; 'bully' whippets
• Mode of inheritance: Autosomal
• Summary: In addition to the occurrence of natural variants for this trait, variants have been created artificially (e.g. Zou et al., 2015): Genetically-modifed organism; GMO.
• Clin feat: Affected dogs show an unusual amount of muscularity, especially in the neck and legs. They are broad chested and typically don’t conform to the breed standard (slim, long neck, pointed snout) (Mosher et al., 2007). Dogs with a single copy of the mutation show a smaller degree of hypermuscularity are significantly faster than homozygous wild-type whippets (Mosher et al., 2007). Hence, being heterozygous for the mutation is considered performance enhancing. For whippets with a double copy of the mutation, there is little evidence about potential associated health risks. It has been anecdotally reported amongst breeders that affected whippets are otherwise generally healthy and only suffer from occasional muscle cramps and a distinctive overbite (Mosher et al., 2007). IT thanks DVM student Lucas Anderson, who provided the basis of this contribution in May 2023.
• Defect: no

Associated gene(s)

Derived from OMIA database dump (omia.xml, local); structured field, not verbatim prose. First-hand values below are verbatim substrings of the topic's pdf-raw/omia/<phene_id>.txt source file.

• Gene: GDF8 (Entrez Gene ID 26535682) — OMIA Phene_Gene / GeneSynonym

Evidence (references)

Derived from OMIA database dump (omia.xml, local); structured field, not verbatim prose. First-hand values below are verbatim substrings of the topic's pdf-raw/omia/<phene_id>.txt source file.

• 2007. A mutation in the myostatin gene increases muscle mass and enhances racing performance in heterozygote dogs. PLoS Genet — PubMed:PMID17530926 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pgen.0030079 — OMIA Phene_Article / Article
• 2007. Gross muscle hypertrophy in whippet dogs is caused by a mutation in the myostatin gene. Neuromuscul Disord — PubMed:PMID17651971 | DOI:10.1016/j.nmd.2007.06.008 — OMIA Phene_Article / Article
• 2011. Mutations in the myostatin gene leading to hypermuscularity in mammals: indications for a similar mechanism in fish?. Anim Genet — PubMed:PMID21175702 | DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2052.2010.02144.x — OMIA Phene_Article / Article
• 2018. The myostatin gene: an overview of mechanisms of action and its relevance to livestock animals. Anim Genet — PubMed:PMID30125951 | DOI:10.1111/age.12696 — OMIA Phene_Article / Article
• 2021. Deciphering myostatin's regulatory, metabolic, and developmental influence in skeletal diseases. Front Genet — PubMed:PMID33854530 | DOI:10.3389/fgene.2021.662908 — OMIA Phene_Article / Article
• 2015. Generation of gene-target dogs using CRISPR/Cas9 system. J Mol Cell Biol — PubMed:PMID26459633 | DOI:10.1093/jmcb/mjv061 — OMIA Phene_Article / Article
• 2007. Sprinting without myostatin: a genetic determinant of athletic prowess. Trends Genet — PubMed:PMID17884234 | DOI:10.1016/j.tig.2007.08.008 — OMIA Phene_Article / Article
• 2025. Evolutionary characteristics, biochemical structure, and function impact of MSTN gene. Genes Dis — PubMed:PMID40727588 | DOI:10.1016/j.gendis.2025.101668 — OMIA Phene_Article / Article

Comparative medicine (human OMIM)

Derived from OMIA database dump (omia.xml, local); structured field, not verbatim prose. First-hand values below are verbatim substrings of the topic's pdf-raw/omia/<phene_id>.txt source file.

• OMIM:601788 (type: gene) — OMIA Group_OMIM (via OMIA_ID)
• OMIM:614160 (type: trait) — OMIA Group_OMIM (via OMIA_ID)

verification_derived: method: derived_from_dataset source: "OMIA database dump (omia.xml, local); fields Gene/Variant/Article/OMIM" note: "Structured fields (gene, variant rsID/protein change, PubMed/DOI references, OMIM cross-link) extracted from OMIA dump and presented with first-hand values; not verbatim prose."