Topic:Pedigree
Pedigree analysis in horses involves the study of lineage and ancestry to understand genetic relationships and inheritance patterns. It is a tool used to track traits, performance potential, and hereditary diseases within horse populations. Pedigree records often include detailed information on the ancestors of a horse, going back several generations, and can help in making informed breeding decisions. This page assembles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the methodologies, applications, and implications of pedigree analysis in equine breeding and genetics.
[Population genetic parameters of aboriginal Yakut horses as related to modern breeds of the domestic horse Equus caballus L]. This study was the first to analyze the polymorphic characteristics of a wide range of biochemical markers in aboriginal Yakut horses. A total of 124 alleles, including 48 alleles of seven blood-group loci and 76 alleles of ten loci for enzymes and other proteins, were studied. For these polymorphic systems, a computer analysis of the genetic distances between 85 horse breeds of different origin from all parts of the world was performed. The low level of hereditary variation in the Yakut horses confirmed that this breed is old and has long been an isolated population. Phylogenetic analysis dem...
Comparisons of three probability formulae for parentage exclusion. Three general formulae calibrate the average capability of marker systems to dispute falsely reported pedigree records in uniparous species. The most familiar exclusion formula applies to paternity, although the same formula applies equally to maternity. Another formula faults the relationship of a single offspring with its putative parent; for example, where the genotype of the other parent is not available. The remaining formulae excludes both of the falsely recorded parents of a substituted offspring. Simplified forms of the three general formulae facilitate the calculation of maximal avera...
A single base transversion in the flanking region of an equine microsatellite locus affects amplification of one allele. The equine dinucleotide microsatellite HMS7 is part of a microsatellite panel utilized in a parentage verification programme at the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory (Davis, California, USA). Apparent non-Mendelian inheritance was noted when a Quarter Horse mare was excluded as the parent of two offspring based on analysis of the HMS7 locus. The mare's DNA type qualified her as a parent of the offspring at an additional 20 microsatellite loci. The three animals appeared homozygous for HMS7 with each possessing an allele different from that of the other two animals. Polymerase chain reaction prime...
Tobiano spotting pattern in horses: linkage of To with AlA and linkage disequilibrium. In a study of 2,786 tobiano and non-tobiano horses involved in paint horse breeding programs throughout the United States, the inheritance of the tobiano color pattern gene was tracked in pedigrees using the tightly linked polymorphic albumin gene. The dominant tobiano allele (T(o)), which produces the tobiano spotting pattern in horses, was in coupling with both AIA and AIB alleles at the albumin locus. The frequency of the T(o):AIA linkage phase among all the homozygous tobiano horses in this study including offspring and parents (N = 127), was 0.08. The T(o):AIB linkage phase was the most f...
Validation of microsatellite markers for routine horse parentage testing. A parallel testing of 4803 routine Quarter Horse parentage cases, using 15 loci of blood group and protein polymorphisms (blood typing) and 11 loci of dinucleotide repeat microsatellites (DNA typing), validated DNA markers for horse pedigree verification. For the 26 loci, taken together, the theoretical effectiveness of detecting incorrect parentage was 99.999%, making it extremely unlikely that false parentage would fail to be recognized. The tests identified incorrect parentage assignment for 95 offspring (2% of cases). Despite fewer loci, DNA typing was as effective as blood typing and, in ...
Genetical and physical assignments of equine microsatellites–first integration of anchored markers in horse genome mapping. Twenty equine microsatellites were isolated from a genomic phage library, and their genetical and physical localization was sought by linkage mapping and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). Nineteen of the markers were found to be polymorphic with, in most cases, heterozygosities exceeding 50%. The markers were mapped in a Swedish reference family for gene mapping, comprising eight half-sib families from Standardbred and Icelandic horse sires. Segregation was analyzed against a set of 35 other markers typed in the pedigree. Thirteen of the microsatellites showed linkage to at least one o...
Evidence for a single pedigree source of the hyperkalemic periodic paralysis susceptibility gene in quarter horses. The pedigree origin of a base pair substitution in the horse muscle sodium channel gene that confers susceptibility to the muscle disease hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HYPP) was investigated with a set of 978 Quarter Horses. The horses were chosen at random, based on a collection of blood samples taken between 1989 and 1991 to meet parentage testing requirements, primarily but not exclusively from breeding stallions. The frequency of Quarter Horses positive for the base pair substitution, all heterozygotes, was 4.4%, which corresponds to an allelic frequency of 0.02. All horses positive for...
Familial basis of exertional rhabdomyolysis in quarter horse-related breeds. To trace pedigrees from affected horses, identify likely contributing founder horses, and determine the conditional probability of founder genotypes. Methods: Muscle biopsy records from the Neuromuscular Disease Laboratory at the University of California-Davis and the University of Minnesota were searched to identify horses with a polysaccharide storage myopathy and exercise intolerance/rhabdomyolysis. Pedigrees containing 5 to 6 generations were obtained where possible. Methods: 13 Quarter Horses, 4 American Paint Horses, 3 Appaloosas, and 3 Quarter Horse crossbreds (16 mares, 4 geldings, and...
Cloning of a DNA repeat element from horse: DNA sequence and chromosomal localization. A DNA repeat element, revealed initially by digestion of horse DNA with TaqI, was cloned and characterized by Southern and in situ hybridization studies and nucleotide sequencing. The clone, e4/1, consisted of 32 tandem reiteration of a unit repeat of 21-22 bp, and produced multilocus DNA fingerprinting profiles that were useful for parentage analysis in horses. The tandem repeat element was shown by in situ hybridization to be localized in the centromeres of the acrocentric but not metacentric classes of horse chromosomes.
Hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis in Australian quarter horses. Three Quarter Horse stallions and 5 of their 11 tested progeny were diagnosed as affected with the inherited autosomal dominant defect hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis in Victoria in 1992. The diagnoses were based on the appearance of clinical signs and associated increased plasma potassium concentrations in response to oral potassium loading. All affected horses were descendants of the American Quarter Horse Impressive. Indirect evidence indicates that at least 3 other affected Quarter Horse stallions have stood or are standing at stud in Australia. The clinical details of the affected horses...
Unusual D system inheritance in Anglo-Arab horse. An unusual D system phenogroup appeared in one family line of Anglo-Arab horse. This phenogroup probably originated from inheritance with an apparent absence of factors and was transmitted through successive generations.
The identification of polymorphic microsatellite loci in the horse and their use in thoroughbred parentage testing. Six new horse microsatellite loci were identified by sequencing M13 clones containing horse genomic inserts which gave positive signals when probed with a CA/GT repeat probe. Oligonucleotide primer pairs were synthesized for these loci and for two previously described horse microsatellites, HTG4 and HTG6. Polymerase chain reaction assays were then carried out on a panel of 20 different unrelated Thoroughbred horse DNAs. DNAs from eight cases of double covering which could not be solved by conventional blood typing were also examined. Several of the loci amplified were found to be polymorphic a...
Genetic Bit Analysis: a solid phase method for typing single nucleotide polymorphisms. A new method for typing single nucleotide polymorphisms in DNA is described. In this method, specific fragments of genomic DNA containing the polymorphic site(s) are first amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using one regular and one phosphorothioate-modified primer. The double-stranded PCR product is rendered single-stranded by treatment with the enzyme T7 gene 6 exonuclease, and captured onto individual wells of a 96 well polystyrene plate by hybridization to an immobilized oligonucleotide primer. This primer is designed to hybridize to the single-stranded target DNA immediately...
Pathophysiology of sodium channelopathies: correlation of normal/mutant mRNA ratios with clinical phenotype in dominantly inherited periodic paralysis. It is often suggested that polygenic or environmental factors are responsible for clinical variability between patients with identical mutations. However, most dominant diseases are caused by a change-of-function alteration in the mutant allele's protein product. All patients are heterozygous and presumably express both mutant and normal proteins from the corresponding genes. Thus, a possible molecular mechanism for clinical variability could be the difference in relative levels of mutant vs. normal mRNA in different patients with the same mutation. To investigate this hypothesis, it is necess...
Dominant inheritance of overo spotting in paint horses. Analysis of selected studbook records of the American Paint Horse Association, consisting of 687 foals sired by 13 overo stallions from non-overo mares, supports the inheritance of overo spotting as an autosomal dominant gene. More than one gene may control patterns registered as overo. Additional studies are necessary to explain the sporadic occurrence of overo spotting from nonspotted quarter horse parents and to confirm the inheritance of overo spotting in other breeds.
Parentage testing and linkage analysis in the horse using a set of highly polymorphic microsatellites. Ten (TG)n positive clones, isolated from an equine genomic library and sequenced, contained 12-19 uninterrupted TG repeats. Primers for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were synthesized and nine of these (TG)n loci (HTG7-15) were successfully amplified and utilized in this study together with five previously reported equine microsatellite loci (HTG2-6). The PCR products were analysed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by automated laser fluorescence detection or autoradiography. All microsatellites showed polymorphism and stable Mendelian inheritance. Differences in microsatellite v...
Rare alleles, MHC and captive breeding. In recent years, more detailed genetic information has become available for individuals of endangered species in captive breeding programs. There have been suggestions that this information be used to identify rare alleles, particularly those at the MHC, that can be subsequently selected for captive breeding programs. First, we summarize the current information on the MHC relevant to conservation genetics, so that such a possible breeding program is seen in a proper perspective. For example, very few specific alleles at the MHC have been identified as selectively advantageous, even though ther...
Silent blood chimaerism in a mare confirmed by DNA marker analysis of hair bulbs. Microsatellite DNA markers in a mare's hair bulbs not concordant with markers in her blood confirmed the hypothesis of chimaerism which had been proposed to explain the apparent parentage exclusion of the mare from her suckling foal. Parentage analysis for this foal based on genetic markers not originating from blood cells of its dam supported a parentage verification conclusion.
Correlation between the individual heterozygosity of parents and their offspring. Specific formulations are derived for the correlation between the heterozygosity of a randomly mating parent and its offspring for a diallelic locus, and for the correlation when multiple loci are considered. The expected correlation is maximal, approaching r = 0.50, when allelic frequencies are highly asymmetric, and it is zero when the allelic frequencies are equal to 0.50. Parent-offspring correlations, up to a maximum of 0.50 for diallelic loci, indicate that levels of heterozygosity can respond to selection. Multilocus allozyme data from limber pine, Pinus flexilis, and from horses of sta...
[DNA fingerprinting in horses]. Using a multilocus DNA probe, individual - specific hybridization patterns, the so-called DNA fingerprints (TAB) were determined in six horse families by the DNA fingerprinting method. The probe with evolutionally preserved nucleotide sequence from bacteriophage M13 determines hypervariable regions placed in genomic minisatellite DNA. The use of this probe permits an identification of an individual and execution of paternity relationships with a probability over 99.99 per cent.
Inheritance of hydrocephalus in horses. From 1974 to 1979, seven stillborn foals with internal hydrocephalus were encountered from one Standardbred trotter stallion which sired 239 registered foals. An hydrocephalic foal was also aborted by a daughter of the same stallion. One affected foal from Standardbred trotters and one from a Finnish Horses were also reported. In some cases, the condition caused severe dystocia. Based on field data, possible causes of the defect could neither be proved nor specifically overruled in individual cases. Hydrocephalus was obviously not an autosomal recessive single-locus defect, nor was it X-linked...
Familial incidence of hyperkalemic periodic paralysis in quarter horses. The pedigrees of 17 horses with hyperkalemic paralysis were studied. All were first-, second-, or third-generation offspring of a common sire, 16 were registered Quarter Horses. Analysis indicated that it was unlikely that the concentration of hyperkalemic periodic paralysis in the offspring of this sire was attributable to chance. The familial nature of this condition should help veterinarians diagnostically. It also suggests that it is possible to reduce the incidence of this condition by breeding from non-affected lines of horses and reinforces the need for studies to determine whether the ...
DNA fingerprinting in horses using a simple (TG)n probe and its application to population comparisons. A synthetic polynucleotide (TG)n was hybridized to equine DNA digested with HinfI and hypervariable hybridization patterns were obtained. Mendelian inheritance of these DNA fingerprinting patterns was confirmed by pedigree analysis. Estimates of the probabilities of identical band patterns in unrelated individuals of different breeds (Swedish Trotters, North Swedish Trotters, Thoroughbreds and Arabians) were in the range 1 x 10(-4) - 7 x 10(-6). The variability derived with the (TG)n probe in horses was higher than what we obtained with several other commonly used probes for DNA fingerprinting...
Linkage of hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis in quarter horses to the horse adult skeletal muscle sodium channel gene. A genetic disease observed in certain Quarter horses is hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis (HYPP). This disease causes attacks of paralysis which can be induced by ingestion of potassium. Recent studies have shown that HYPP in humans is due to single base changes within the adult skeletal muscle sodium channel gene. A large Quarter horse pedigree segregating dominant HYPP was studied to determine if mutations of the sodium channel gene are similarly responsible for HYPP in horses. We used cross-species, PCR-mediated, cDNA cloning and sequencing of the horse adult skeletal muscle sodium channel a...
Inheritance of the equine Tf F3 allele. The inheritance of the equine Tf F3 allele was examined in 39 parent-offspring combinations. For 26 of the cases the allele inherited by the offspring from the heterozygous parent could be determined. The proportion of individuals that inherited the F3 variant compared to the alternative allele was exactly 1:1. In five cases the parental phenotype was identical to that of the offspring. For the remaining eight cases the parent was homozygous for the F3 allele and all offspring had the F3 allele. The results were consistent with Mendelian inheritance.