Genetics in horses encompasses the study of hereditary traits and the genetic makeup that influences various characteristics and health conditions in equine populations. This field involves the analysis of genes and their functions, inheritance patterns, and the impact of genetic variations on traits such as coat color, performance ability, and susceptibility to diseases. Research in equine genetics employs techniques such as genome mapping, sequencing, and genetic testing to identify specific genes and mutations associated with these traits. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the genetic basis of equine traits, the methodologies used in genetic research, and the implications for breeding, health management, and conservation of horse breeds.
Friedlander M, Sobotka H, Banzhaf EJ.The precipitin indices for a number of monovalent and polyvalent antipneumococcus sera were determined under known conditions, and found to vary as did the number of protective units. The ratio precipitin index/protective units in monovalent sera was found to lie between 2.8 and 4.8 for Type I and to be about ten times greater for Type III. Lower values were found in polyvalent horses and when mixing heterologous monovalent sera with each other. The influence of the duration of treatment upon the quotient was studied. Several refined and concentrated preparations showed a relative increase in ...
Reimann HA.It is conceivable that a change from the virulent, non-phagocytable S form of Pneumococcus to the avirulent phagocytable R form may take place in pneumococcus disease, but the experiments here reported do not settle the question whether or not this is an important factor in determining the outcome in natural infection. It has been shown experimentally that the degradation from the S form to the R form actually does take place in cultures of Pneumococcus growing in agar subcutaneously embedded in guinea pigs, in agar enclosed in vials subcutaneously embedded in rabbits, and spontaneously in the...
Hubbert WR.1. Better results in the production of diphtheria antitoxin can be obtained with greater experience in the selection of the most suitable type of horses to be used. Young animals are usually to be preferred. Over one-half of all such horses can be made to yield 300-unit serum, while a third will yield (5)oo-unit serum. 2. High-test horses require a shorter time to immunize and will yield a potent serum for a longer period than will low-test horses. 3. The period of usefulness of an antitoxin horse is short, and on an average endures only a few months. 4. A horse having attained a maximal antit...
Handing KB, Shabalin IG, Szlachta K, Majorek KA, Minor W.Serum albumin (SA) is the main transporter of drugs in mammalian blood plasma. Here, we report the first crystal structure of equine serum albumin (ESA) in complex with antihistamine drug cetirizine at a resolution of 2.1Å. Cetirizine is bound in two sites--a novel drug binding site (CBS1) and the fatty acid binding site 6 (CBS2). Both sites differ from those that have been proposed in multiple reports based on equilibrium dialysis and fluorescence studies for mammalian albumins as cetirizine binding sites. We show that the residues forming the binding pockets in ESA are highly conserved in h...
Martin F, Eydal M, Höglund J, Tydén E.The equine roundworm Parascaris univalens has developed resistance to the three anthelmintic substances most commonly used in horses. The mechanisms responsible for resistance are believed to be multi-genic, and transport proteins such as the P-glycoprotein (Pgp) family have been suggested to be involved in resistance in several parasites including P. univlaens. To facilitate further research into the mechanisms behind drug metabolism and resistance development in P. univalens we aimed to develop an in vitro model based on larvae. We developed a fast and easy protocol for hatching P. univalens...
Chirnside ED, Wearing CM, Binns MM, Mumford JA.cDNA copies of the M and N genes of equine arteritis virus (EAV) isolates were synthesized by reverse transcription followed by polymerase chain reaction amplification. The cDNA was subjected to a cycle sequencing strategy using Taq polymerase, and the nucleotide and derived amino acid sequences of 10 virus isolates were compared. The M and N genes of all isolates had the same initiation and termination sites as the prototype Bucyrus strain and the encoded proteins were conserved between viruses. Comparison of nucleotide sequence homologies and phylogenetic tree analysis implied the existence ...
Aucamp J, van der Zwan H, Geldenhuys Z, Abera A, Louw R, van der Sluis R.In animal breeding, a species sex can influence the value of the animal. For example, in the horse breeding industry, mares are preferred as polo horses, while in wildlife breeding males with larger horns are more valuable. Therefore, the economic advantages of knowing the unborn fetus' sex are important to successful animal management. Ultrasonography is used to determine the sex of unborn fetuses, but this method places additional stress on the animal and require specialized equipment and expertise. Conversely, molecular-based sexing techniques require less invasive sampling and can determin...
Petry S, Py JS, Wilhelm A, Duquesne F, Bäyon-Auboyer MH, Morvan H, Gassilloud B.Misidentification between Taylorella equigenitalis, the causative agent of contagious equine metritis (CEM), and Taylorella asinigenitalis is observed by the gold standard culture method. The performance of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for Taylorella species identification was evaluated using 85 T. equigenitalis and 28 T. asinigenitalis strains selected on the basis of multilocus sequence typing data. Seven of the T. equigenitalis and 9 of the T. asinigenitalis strains were used to generate in-house reference spectra to expand ...
The Journal of heredityOctober 15, 2003
Volume 94, Issue 5 374-380 doi: 10.1093/jhered/esg079
Tozaki T, Takezaki N, Hasegawa T, Ishida N, Kurosawa M, Tomita M, Saitou N, Mukoyama H.The genetic relationships of seven Japanese and four mainland-Asian horse populations, as well as two European horse populations, were estimated using data for 20 microsatellite loci. Mongolian horses showed the highest average heterozygosities (0.75-0.77) in all populations. Phylogenetic analysis showed the existence of three distinct clusters supported by high bootstrap values: the European cluster (Anglo-Arab and thoroughbreds), the Hokkaido-Kiso cluster, and the Mongolian cluster. The relationships of these clusters were consistent with their geographical distributions. Basing our assumpti...
Mitchell MC, Tzelos T, Handel I, McWilliam HE, Hodgkinson JE, Nisbet AJ, Kharchenko VO, Burgess ST, Matthews JB.Cyathostomins are ubiquitous nematodes of horses. Once ingested, they can spend a substantial time as encysted larvae in the intestinal wall. The larvae can comprise up to 90% of the total burden, with up to several million worms reported in individuals. These stages can emerge in large numbers to cause life-threatening colitis. Direct methods for detection of encysted larval burdens in live horses do not exist. Previously, two antigen complexes were identified as promising markers for infection. A component of these, cyathostomin gut associated larval antigen-1 (Cy-GALA-1), was identified fol...
Bartolomé E, Valera M, Fernández J, Rodríguez-Ramilo ST.The equine breeding industry for sport's performance has evolved into a fairly profitable economic activity. In particular, the Caballo de Deporte Español (CDE) is bred for different disciplines with a special focus on Show Jumping. The main aim of this study was to determine the effects of 15 years of selection and to find out whether it has been effective and adequate regarding the CDE main breeding objectives. The whole pedigree of 19,045 horses registered as CDE was used, comprising 47,884 animals (18,799 males and 29,085 females). An analysis performed to check for the pedigree completen...
Wu D, Murakami K, Liu N, Konishi M, Muneta Y, Inumaru S, Kokuho T, Sentsui H.The equine interleukin-18 (IL-18) cDNA that contains the coding sequence was cloned and a recombinant baculovirus, named AcEIL-18, was constructed. The recombinant protein of the equine IL-18 was expressed by AcEIL-18 and its expression was confirmed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blotting. Insect cells infected with AcEIL-18 secreted a precursor IL-18 with 24 kilo dalton (kDa) into the culture supernatant. Western blot analysis showed that mature equine IL-18 about 18 kDa was also confirmed without co-expression of caspase-1. Culture supern...
Salek Ardestani S, Zandi MB, Vahedi SM, Janssens S.The genetic structure and characteristics of Iranian native breeds are yet to be comprehensibly investigated and studied. Therefore, we employed genomic information of 364 Iranian native horses representing the Asil (n = 109), Caspian (n = 40), Dareshuri (n = 44), Kurdish (n = 95), and Turkoman (n = 76) breeds to reveal the genetic structure and characteristics. For these and 19 other horse breeds, principal component analysis, Bayesian model-based, Neighbor-Net, and bootstrap-based TreeMix approaches were applied to investigate and compare their genetic structure. Additionally, thre...
Oda D, Onogi A.The inheritance of racing performance in Thoroughbreds is of interest to breeders and geneticists. Therefore, the genetic parameters of racing performance have been investigated in various populations of Thoroughbreds. However, the predictability of the racing performance of a racehorse has not been assessed well. In this study, we built mixed-effects models for Japanese Thoroughbreds and assessed their predictability of racing performance. We used the average velocity as an index of racing performance and treated each category of racecourse and distance as different traits. Model selection us...
Taylor MA, Hunt KR.The term 'anthelmintic drug resistance' describes the heritable ability of some nematode parasites to survive treatment with anthelmintic drugs at the recommended therapeutic dose levels. Genes for resistance appear to be present in many of the important pathogenic nematodes of ruminants and horses. Under intensive management systems, where heavy reliance is placed on anthelmintic drugs for worm control, the selection of resistant genotypes may result in increased reports of the drugs failing to control the nematode populations against which they are aimed. Anthelmintic resistance has been rep...
Bromfield JJ.Artificial insemination has been a landmark procedure in improving animal agriculture over the past 150 years. The utility of artificial insemination has facilitated a rapid improvement in animal genetics across agricultural species, leading to improvements of growth, health and productivity in poultry, swine, equine and cattle species. The utility of artificial insemination, as with all assisted reproductive technologies side-steps thousands of years of evolution that has led to the development of physiological systems to ensure the transmission of genetics from generation to generation. The ...
Shaktivesh , Malekipour F, Whitton C, Lee PVS.Standard fatigue testing of bone uses a single load and frequency applied until failure. However, in situ, the subchondral bone of Thoroughbred racehorses is subjected to a combination (or a spectrum) of loads and frequencies during training and racing. Objective: To investigate the use of a fatigue testing method for equine third metacarpal (McIII) subchondral bone under a spectrum of loading conditions which a racehorse is likely to experience during a fast workout. Methods: In vitro biomechanical experimental study. Methods: McIII subchondral bone specimens (n = 12) of racehorses were ha...
Balasuriya UB, Dobbe JC, Heidner HW, Smalley VL, Navarrette A, Snijder EJ, MacLachlan NJ.We have used an infectious cDNA clone of equine arteritis virus (EAV) and reverse genetics technology to further characterize the neutralization determinants in the GP5 envelope glycoprotein of the virus. We generated a panel of 20 recombinant viruses, including 10 chimeric viruses that each contained the ORF5 (which encodes GP5) of different laboratory, field, and vaccine strains of EAV, a chimeric virus containing the N-terminal ectodomain of GP5 of a European strain of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, and 9 mutant viruses with site-specific substitutions in their GP5 pro...
Zhang Y, Wen X, Xiao P, Fan X, Li M, Chahan B.Ticks in Xinjiang distribute widely and account for one third of China. Ticks can carry and transmit bacteria, virus, and parasite. However, the research of tick-borne pathogens in Xinjiang is rather little. To understand the situation of hard tick carry Theileria equi, Babesia caballi and Rickettsia spp. of Zhaosu and Altay in Xinjiang. In this study, 119 tick samples were obtained from horses in Xinjiang, China, Ticks were identified morphologically to determine species and PCR was used to investigate the situation of pathogens by hard ticks. One hundred and seven belong to Dermacentor margi...
Driancourt MA.In this review, the main features of folliculogenesis are summarized and compared among species. In the past few years, ultrasonography has clarified follicle growth patterns, and our understanding of follicle maturation has improved considerably. As the follicles develop towards the ovulatory stage, three features appear to be highly conserved across all species: 1) the sequence of events (recruitment, selection and dominance); 2) the sequential need for gonadotropins (FSH for recruitment, LH for dominance) and 3) the large variability of numerical parameters (number of waves per cycle, numbe...
Tryon RC, White SD, Famula TR, Schultheiss PC, Hamar DW, Bannasch DL.To assess heritability and mode of inheritance for hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia (HERDA) in Quarter Horses. Methods: 1,295 horses with Quarter Horse bloodlines, including 58 horses affected with HERDA. Methods: Horses were classified as affected or unaffected or as undetermined when data were insufficient to assess phenotype. Pedigree data were analyzed to determine the probable mode of inheritance. Heritability was estimated by use of Bayesian statistical methods. Results: Heritability (mean+/-SD) of HERDA was estimated to be 0.38+/-0.13, with both sexes having an equal probabili...
Steinhardt J, Hiremath CB.Many of the stability characteristics of horse ferrihemo-globin (Hb+) in acid solutions, such as pH dependence and susceptibility to stabilization by iron ligands, are shared by human ferrihemoglobin, but striking differences between the two proteins exist. The most noticeable is the much greater rate of denaturation of the human protein at all pH values. Other differences include a shift to higher pH in the equi-librium between native and acid-denatured forms, differ-ences in the temperature at which the temperature effect on the equilibrium-pH curve reverses, a complete absence in human Hb+ ...
Muko R, Sunouchi T, Urayama S, Toishi Y, Kusano K, Sato H, Muranaka M, Shin T, Oikawa MA, Ojima Y, Ali M, Nomura Y, Matsuda H, Tanaka A.Histidine-rich glycoprotein (HRG) is abundant plasma protein with various effects on angiogenesis, coagulation, and immune responses. Previously, we identified the base and amino acid sequences of equine HRG (eHRG) and revealed that eHRG regulates neutrophil functions. In this study, we first conducted a large-scale gene analysis with DNA samples extracted from 1700 Thoroughbred horses and identified unique insertion/deletion polymorphisms in the histidine-rich region (HRR) of eHRG. Here we report two types of polymorphisms (deletion type 1 [D1] and deletion type 2 [D2]) containing either a 45...
Whitton RC, Rose RJ.To determine the frequency of damage to the medial palmar intercarpal ligament (MPICL), and the range of sizes of the dorsomedial intercarpal ligament (DMICL) of the midcarpal joint in horses with no history of carpal joint disease. Methods: Cadaver limbs were collected from 72 horses with no history of carpal joint disease. One hundred and forty-two midcarpal joints were dissected and the MPICL and DMICL were examined. Measurements were made with a digital micrometer. Results: MPICL tearing was present in 88 of 96 joints from horses 2 years and older. Tears were predominantly of the dorsolate...
Giontella A, Cardinali I, Sarti FM, Silvestrelli M, Lancioni H.Horse domestication and breed selection processes have profoundly influenced the development and transformation of human society and civilization over time. Therefore, their origin and history have always attracted much attention. In Italy, several local breeds have won prestigious awards thanks to their unique traits and socio-cultural peculiarities. Here, for the first time, we report the genetic variation of three loci of the male-specific region of the Y chromosome (MSY) of four local breeds and another one (Lipizzan, UNESCO) well-represented in the Italian Peninsula. The analysis also inc...
Brandon RB, Giffard JM, Bell K.Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in exons 13, 15 and 16 of equine transferrin for common, rare and mutant variants were investigated. Compared with previous work a further 13 SNPs have been identified, allowing for the two previously identified clades to be subdivided into 11 groups. A combination of one or more of eight SNPs can be used to classify the equine variants into these 11 groups, since most are co-inherited. Putative sites of glycosylation in exons 13 and 16 showed no polymorphism, suggesting that presence or absence of sugar moieties does not lead to electrophoretic variation...
Sandmeyer LS, Bellone RR, Archer S, Bauer BS, Nelson J, Forsyth G, Grahn BH. To determine if congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB) exists in the Miniature Horse in association with leopard complex spotting patterns (LP), and to investigate if CSNB in the Miniature Horse is associated with three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the region of TRPM1 that are highly associated with CSNB and LP in Appaloosas. Methods: Three groups of Miniature Horses were studied based on coat patterns suggestive of LP/LP (n=3), LP/lp (n=4), and lp/lp genotype (n=4). Methods: Horses were categorized based on phenotype as well as pedigree analysis as LP/LP, LP/lp,...
Hashimoto-Hill S, Alenghat T.Domestic animals represent important resources for understanding shared mechanisms underlying complex natural diseases that arise due to both genetic and environmental factors. Intestinal inflammation, particularly inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), is a significant health challenge in humans and domestic animals. While the etiology of IBD is multifactorial, imbalance of symbiotic gut microbiota has been hypothesized to play a central role in disease pathophysiology. Advances in genomic sequencing and analytical pipelines have enabled researchers to decipher the composition of the intestinal mi...
Cavatorta P, Crippa PR, Ito AS, Casali E, Ferrari MB, Masotti L.In the present paper we report a comparative study of physical properties and biochemical composition of isolated melanosomal membranes extracted from bovine eyes and from an equine spleen melanoma. Some biophysical characteristics of such membranes were obtained by steady-state and time resolved fluorescence spectroscopy using DPH as fluorescent probe. By these methods we have measured both static fluorescence polarization and fluorescence lifetimes and from the experimental data we have calculated the rotational correlation times by Perrin's equation. Since dynamic and static parameters, suc...
Fessler AT, Olde Riekerink RG, Rothkamp A, Kadlec K, Sampimon OC, Lam TJ, Schwarz S.In this study MRSA isolates from dairy farms were investigated for their genetic relationships and antimicrobial susceptibility. In total, 125 MRSA isolates from 26 dairy farms were studied, including isolates from milk samples (n=46), dairy cattle (n=24), calves (n=6), dust samples from pig (n=16) and veal calf sheds (n=1), dogs (n=2), a horse, a sheep and humans (n=28). CC398-specific PCRs, spa typing, SCCmec typing and ApaI macrorestriction analysis were conducted. Susceptibility testing was performed by broth microdilution. All 125 isolates belonged to CC398. Eight spa types (t011, t108, t...
Hinrichs K, Riera FL, Klunder LR.Embryo transfer was performed in three mares with gonadal dysgenesis. Karyotypes of the mares were as follows: Mare 1, 63,XX, 64,XX, 65,XX; Mare 2, 63,X; and Mare 3, 65,XXX. The mares were administered progesterone in oil, 300 mg intramuscularly daily, starting 1 or 2 days after donor mare ovulation. Embryos were transferred on day 7 after donor ovulation. Mare 1 became pregnant after the first embryo transfer and had a normally developing fetus on necropsy on day 45 of gestation. Mare 3 became pregnant after the third embryo transfer, but the embryo was lost between day 14 and day 18 of gesta...
Skopakoff C.The development of the chewing, lacerative and omnivorous dentition type was confirmed on the base of the author's studies on the dentition of placentalia representatives. The use of vegetable food by the rodents and herbivorous mammals induces an efficient development of molars, absence or reduced number of incisors and canines of the upper jaw and increased number of incisors and absence of canines of the lower jaw, resulting into the proposal of an alteration of the dentition formula for rabbits and for the rest of the rodents (Simplicidentata), for herbivorous and for horses. In beasts of ...
