Abstract: Based on the MC1R nucleotide and amino acid sequences of Canis familiaris, Vulpes vulpes, Alopex lagopus and Nyctereutes procyonoides published in GenBank, sequence variation and genetic evolution of MC1R gene were analyzed by means of bioinformatics softwares. The results showed that， the length of Canidae family MC1R gene coding sequence was 954 bp, the base composition was C＞G＞T＞A and the content of G+C was higher than that of A+T; A total of 20 polymorphic sites, including 16 single mutation sites and 4 parsimony informative sites were detected from four Canidae familes. In addition, the base conversion was more than transversion types. There were higher similarity of nucleotide and amino acid between four Canidae families; The phylogenetic distance between the Vulpes vulpes and Alopex lagopus was shorter than that between Vulpes vulpes and Canis familiaris. The result was basically consistent in molecular phylogenetic tree constructed by three methods which were NJ, ME and UPGMA, the Vulpes vulpes was clustered together with Alopex lagopus, Nyctereutes procyonoides was earlier divergent than the other three Canidae families.

Key words: Canidae family; melanocortin-1 receptor; sequence comparison; genetic evolution