Przewalski's Horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) are a subspecies of wild horse native to the steppes of central Asia, particularly Mongolia. They are distinguishable from domestic horses (Equus ferus caballus) by their stockier build, shorter mane, and lack of forelock. Przewalski's Horses are considered the last true wild horses, as they have never been domesticated, unlike their domestic counterparts. Both Przewalski's and domestic horses share a common ancestor, but they have diverged over time due to differences in habitat, behavior, and genetic adaptations. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the genetic divergence, conservation efforts, and ecological roles of Przewalski's Horses in comparison to domestic horses.
Barsuren E, Namkhai B, Kong HS.The objective of this study was to assess differences in serum protein expression profiles of Przewalski's (Mongolian wild horse) and thoroughbred horses using proteome analysis. The serum proteins were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and five different gene products were identified. Proteins represented by the five spots were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS)/MS technology. The identities of all proteins were deduced based on their similarity to proteins in the human plasma protein database. Three pr...
Schubert M, Jónsson H, Chang D, Der Sarkissian C, Ermini L, Ginolhac A, Albrechtsen A, Dupanloup I, Foucal A, Petersen B, Fumagalli M, Raghavan M....The domestication of the horse ∼ 5.5 kya and the emergence of mounted riding, chariotry, and cavalry dramatically transformed human civilization. However, the genetics underlying horse domestication are difficult to reconstruct, given the near extinction of wild horses. We therefore sequenced two ancient horse genomes from Taymyr, Russia (at 7.4- and 24.3-fold coverage), both predating the earliest archeological evidence of domestication. We compared these genomes with genomes of domesticated horses and the wild Przewalski's horse and found genetic structure within Eurasia in the Late Pleist...
Ghosh S, Qu Z, Das PJ, Fang E, Juras R, Cothran EG, McDonell S, Kenney DG, Lear TL, Adelson DL, Chowdhary BP, Raudsepp T.We constructed a 400K WG tiling oligoarray for the horse and applied it for the discovery of copy number variations (CNVs) in 38 normal horses of 16 diverse breeds, and the Przewalski horse. Probes on the array represented 18,763 autosomal and X-linked genes, and intergenic, sub-telomeric and chrY sequences. We identified 258 CNV regions (CNVRs) across all autosomes, chrX and chrUn, but not in chrY. CNVs comprised 1.3% of the horse genome with chr12 being most enriched. American Miniature horses had the highest and American Quarter Horses the lowest number of CNVs in relation to Thoroughbred r...
Wang W, Zhang D, Hu D, Chu H, Cao J, Ente M, Jiang G, Li K.Gasterophilosis is a significant threat to equids in the desert steppe of Xinjiang, China, where Gasterophilus pecorum (Fabricius) (Diptera: Gasterophilidae) is the dominant botfly species. A population analysis was conducted on 195 individual G. pecorum larvae from three host species, Przewalski's horse, the domestic horse and the Asiatic wild ass. The distribution of haplotypes of the maternally inherited mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene was analysed to assess the population differentiation of G. pecorum. High haplotype diversity was observed among G. pecorum popul...
Thompson R, Armién AG, Rasmussen JM, Wolf TM.A 25-yr-old, nulliparous, female Przewalski's wild horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) with a history of pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction and recent onset of serosanguinous vaginal discharge was euthanized after a period of lethargy and inappetance. Postmortem examination confirmed an infiltrative uterine adenocarcinoma, which is an uncommon neoplasia in equids. Reproductive disease is significant in this species as they are considered endangered by IUCN. Reproductive soundness and success are paramount to conservation efforts.
Wolter R, Pantel N, Stefanski V, Möstl E, Krueger K.The maintenance and development of conservation areas by grazing of large herbivores, such as Przewalski's horses, is common practice. Several nature conservation areas house male bachelor groups of this species. When males are needed for breeding they are removed from the groups, often without considering group compositions and individual social positions. However, alpha animals are needed for ensuring group stability and decision making in potentially dangerous situations in several species. To investigate the role of the alpha male in a bachelor group, we observed the behaviour of five Prze...
Huang J, Zhao Y, Shiraigol W, Li B, Bai D, Ye W, Daidiikhuu D, Yang L, Jin B, Zhao Q, Gao Y, Wu J, Bao W, Li A, Zhang Y, Han H, Bai H, Bao Y, Zhao L....Karyotypic diversification is more prominent in Equus species than in other mammals. Here, using next generation sequencing technology, we generated and de novo assembled quality genomes sequences for a male wild horse (Przewalski's horse) and a male domestic horse (Mongolian horse), with about 93-fold and 91-fold coverage, respectively. Portion of Y chromosome from wild horse assemblies (3 M bp) and Mongolian horse (2 M bp) were also sequenced and de novo assembled. We confirmed a Robertsonian translocation event through the wild horse's chromosomes 23 and 24, which contained sequences th...
Collins CW, Monfort SL, Vick MM, Wolfe BA, Weiss RB, Keefer CL, Songsasen N.To date, there has been limited research on manipulation of the estrous cycle in endangered equids. The objectives of this study were to assess the efficacy of using combinations of: (a) oral altrenogest and PGF2α, and (b) injectable altrenogest and PGF2α for manipulation of ovarian activity in Przewalski's mares. Reproductive cycles were monitored by assessing follicular changes with rectal ultrasound and changes in urinary steroid hormones. In Study 1, five cycling mares were treated with oral altrenogest (n=11 cycles) for 14 days. In Study 2, cycling mares were treated with oral altrenoge...
Pukazhenthi BS, Johnson A, Guthrie HD, Songsasen N, Padilla LR, Wolfe BA, Coutinho da Silva M, Alvarenga MA, Wildt DE.Two studies were conducted to understand sperm cryosensitivity in an endangered equid, the Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalski), while testing the cryoprotectant ability of formamides. The first assessed the toxicity of permeating cryoprotectants (glycerol, methylformamide [MF] and dimethylformamide [DMF]) to Przewalski's horse spermatozoa during liquid storage at 4°C. The second examined the comparative influence of three diluents (with or without formamides) on cryosurvival of sperm from the Przewalski's versus domestic horse. When Przewalski's horse spermatozoa were incubated at 4°...
Yin X, Lu G, Guo W, Qi T, Ma J, Zhu C, Zhao S, Pan J, Xiang W.An outbreak of equine influenza was observed in the Asian wild horse population in Xinjiang Province, China, in 2007. Nasal swabs were collected from wild horses and inoculated into 9-10-day SPF embryonated eggs. The complete genome of the isolate was sequenced. A comparison of the amino acid sequence revealed that the isolate was an equine influenza virus strain, which we named A/equine/Xinjiang/4/2007. Each gene of the virus was found to have greater than 99 % homology to equine influenza virus strains of the Florida-2 sublineage, which were circulating simultaneously in China, and a lesser ...
Liu G, Xu CQ, Cao Q, Zimmermann W, Songer M, Zhao SS, Li K, Hu DF.Przewalski's horses have been imported from the western zoos to China since 1985. Yet the genetic diversity in China's populations has not been studied, thus lacking of such knowledge inevitably affects this population's management. The aim of this study was to assess genetic diversity in Chinese population of Przewalski's horses via mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region and pedigree analysis. Methods: Two captive and one reintroduced populations were examined based on mitochondrial DNA control region variation via fecal sampling from 2010 to 2012, together with pedigree analysis. Results: ...
Orlando L, Ginolhac A, Zhang G, Froese D, Albrechtsen A, Stiller M, Schubert M, Cappellini E, Petersen B, Moltke I, Johnson PL, Fumagalli M....The rich fossil record of equids has made them a model for evolutionary processes. Here we present a 1.12-times coverage draft genome from a horse bone recovered from permafrost dated to approximately 560-780 thousand years before present (kyr BP). Our data represent the oldest full genome sequence determined so far by almost an order of magnitude. For comparison, we sequenced the genome of a Late Pleistocene horse (43 kyr BP), and modern genomes of five domestic horse breeds (Equus ferus caballus), a Przewalski's horse (E. f. przewalskii) and a donkey (E. asinus). Our analyses suggest that ...
Wallner B, Vogl C, Shukla P, Burgstaller JP, Druml T, Brem G.The paternally inherited Y chromosome displays the population genetic history of males. While modern domestic horses (Equus caballus) exhibit abundant diversity within maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA, no significant Y-chromosomal sequence diversity has been detected. We used high throughput sequencing technology to identify the first polymorphic Y-chromosomal markers useful for tracing paternal lines. The nucleotide variability of the modern horse Y chromosome is extremely low, resulting in six haplotypes (HT), all clearly distinct from the Przewalski horse (E. przewalskii). The most wi...
Brinkmann L, Gerken M, Riek A.Recent results suggest that the wild ancestor of the horse, the Przewalski horse, exhibits signs of a hypometabolism. However, there are speculations that domestic animals lost the ability to reduce energy expenditure during food shortage and adverse environmental conditions. Therefore, we investigated physiological and behavioural strategies employed by a robust domesticated horse breed, the Shetland pony, over the course of a year under temperate conditions by measuring ambient temperature (T(a)), subcutaneous temperature (T(s)), locomotor activity (LA), lying time, resting heart rate, body ...
Collins CW, Songsasen NS, Vick MM, Wolfe BA, Weiss RB, Keefer CL, Monfort SL.The ex situ population of the Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) is not self-sustaining (20% foaling rate), and the demography is skewed toward aging individuals with low gene diversity. We designed the present study to gain a better understanding of the reproductive biology of the Przewalski's mare and to determine whether age and gene diversity influenced reproductive function. Urine samples were collected 3-7 days/wk from 19 mares from May to September, and ultrasound examinations of follicular structures were performed 3 days/wk for 5 wk from May through July in nine individuals....
Achilli A, Olivieri A, Soares P, Lancioni H, Hooshiar Kashani B, Perego UA, Nergadze SG, Carossa V, Santagostino M, Capomaccio S, Felicetti M....Archaeological and genetic evidence concerning the time and mode of wild horse (Equus ferus) domestication is still debated. High levels of genetic diversity in horse mtDNA have been detected when analyzing the control region; recurrent mutations, however, tend to blur the structure of the phylogenetic tree. Here, we brought the horse mtDNA phylogeny to the highest level of molecular resolution by analyzing 83 mitochondrial genomes from modern horses across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. Our data reveal 18 major haplogroups (A-R) with radiation times that are mostly confined ...
McCue ME, Bannasch DL, Petersen JL, Gurr J, Bailey E, Binns MM, Distl O, Guérin G, Hasegawa T, Hill EW, Leeb T, Lindgren G, Penedo MC, Røed KH....An equine SNP genotyping array was developed and evaluated on a panel of samples representing 14 domestic horse breeds and 18 evolutionarily related species. More than 54,000 polymorphic SNPs provided an average inter-SNP spacing of ∼43 kb. The mean minor allele frequency across domestic horse breeds was 0.23, and the number of polymorphic SNPs within breeds ranged from 43,287 to 52,085. Genome-wide linkage disequilibrium (LD) in most breeds declined rapidly over the first 50-100 kb and reached background levels within 1-2 Mb. The extent of LD and the level of inbreeding were highest in the ...
Kaczensky P, Ganbataar O, Altansukh N, Enkhsaikhan N, Stauffer C, Walzer C.Large mammals re-introduced into harsh and unpredictable environments are vulnerable to stochastic effects, particularly in times of global climate change. The Mongolian Gobi is home to several rare large ungulates such as re-introduced Przewalski's horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) and Asiatic wild asses (Equus hemionus), but also to a millennium-old semi-nomadic livestock herding culture.The Gobi is prone to large inter-annual environmental fluctuations, but the winter 2009/2010 was particularly severe. Millions of livestock died and the Przewalski's horse population in the Gobi crashed. We u...
Lippold S, Matzke NJ, Reissmann M, Hofreiter M.DNA target enrichment by micro-array capture combined with high throughput sequencing technologies provides the possibility to obtain large amounts of sequence data (e.g. whole mitochondrial DNA genomes) from multiple individuals at relatively low costs. Previously, whole mitochondrial genome data for domestic horses (Equus caballus) were limited to only a few specimens and only short parts of the mtDNA genome (especially the hypervariable region) were investigated for larger sample sets. Results: In this study we investigated whole mitochondrial genomes of 59 domestic horses from 44 breeds an...
Pruvost M, Bellone R, Benecke N, Sandoval-Castellanos E, Cieslak M, Kuznetsova T, Morales-Muñiz A, O'Connor T, Reissmann M, Hofreiter M, Ludwig A.Archaeologists often argue whether Paleolithic works of art, cave paintings in particular, constitute reflections of the natural environment of humans at the time. They also debate the extent to which these paintings actually contain creative artistic expression, reflect the phenotypic variation of the surrounding environment, or focus on rare phenotypes. The famous paintings "The Dappled Horses of Pech-Merle," depicting spotted horses on the walls of a cave in Pech-Merle, France, date back ~25,000 y, but the coat pattern portrayed in these paintings is remarkably similar to a pattern known as...
Lippold S, Knapp M, Kuznetsova T, Leonard JA, Benecke N, Ludwig A, Rasmussen M, Cooper A, Weinstock J, Willerslev E, Shapiro B, Hofreiter M.Modern domestic horses display abundant genetic diversity within female-inherited mitochondrial DNA, but practically no sequence diversity on the male-inherited Y chromosome. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this discrepancy, but can only be tested through knowledge of the diversity in both the ancestral (pre-domestication) maternal and paternal lineages. As wild horses are practically extinct, ancient DNA studies offer the only means to assess this ancestral diversity. Here we show considerable ancestral diversity in ancient male horses by sequencing 4 kb of Y chromosomal DNA ...
Goto H, Ryder OA, Fisher AR, Schultz B, Kosakovsky Pond SL, Nekrutenko A, Makova KD.The endangered Przewalski's horse is the closest relative of the domestic horse and is the only true wild horse species surviving today. The question of whether Przewalski's horse is the direct progenitor of domestic horse has been hotly debated. Studies of DNA diversity within Przewalski's horses have been sparse but are urgently needed to ensure their successful reintroduction to the wild. In an attempt to resolve the controversy surrounding the phylogenetic position and genetic diversity of Przewalski's horses, we used massively parallel sequencing technology to decipher the complete mitoch...
Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL.Convergent evidence from many species reveals the evolutionary origins of human friendship. In horses, elephants, hyenas, dolphins, monkeys, and chimpanzees, some individuals form friendships that last for years. Bonds occur among females, among males, or between males and females. Genetic relatedness affects friendships. In species where males disperse, friendships are more likely among females. If females disperse, friendships are more likely among males. Not all friendships, however, depend on kinship; many are formed between unrelated individuals. Friendships often involve cooperative inte...
Blackhall WJ, Kuzmina T, von Samson-Himmelstjerna G.Resistance to benzimidazoles (BZ) in the gastrointestinal nematodes of livestock is characterised by the presence of specific polymorphisms in the β-tubulin isotype 1 protein, a component of microtubules. The most prevalent polymorphism associated with resistance in nematodes infecting cattle, sheep, and goats is found at codon 200, with minor occurrences of polymorphisms at codons 167 and 198. In the cyathostomins that infect horses, however, a polymorphism at codon 167 appears to be more common than the codon 200 polymorphism. In the present study, a focussed analysis of PCR-amplified β-tu...
Sloboda M, Jirků M, Lukešová D, Qablan M, Batsukh Z, Fiala I, Hořín P, Modrý D, Lukeš J.Equine piroplasmosis caused by Babesia caballi and Theileria equi is widespread in Asia. The presence of these haemozoans in Mongolia was previously confirmed in domestic as well as in reintroduced Przewalski horses in which they cause significant pathology. The data on occurrence of piroplasms from Bactrian camels in Asia is lacking. A total of 192 horses, 70 Bactrian camels, and additional 16 shepherd dogs from the Hentiy province were included in our study. No clinical signs typical for piroplasmid infection were observed during the field survey. Microscopic examination revealed the presenc...
Ling Y, Ma Y, Guan W, Cheng Y, Wang Y, Han J, Jin D, Mang L, Mahmut H.Y chromosome acts as a single nonrecombining unit that is male specific and in effect haploid, thus ensuring the preservation of mutational events as a single haplotype via male lines. In this study, 6 Y chromosome-specific microsatellites (SSR) were tested for the patrilineal genetic variations of 573 male samples from Chinese domestic horse (30 breeds), Przewalski's horse, and donkey. All the 6 loci appeared as a haplotype block in Przewalski's horse and the domestic donkey. There were notable differences, however, at Y chromosome markers between horse and donkey. There were 2 haplotypes of ...
Hatami-Monazah H, Pandit RV.The group of Caspian ponies studied contained some animals with 65 chromosomes and others with 64 chromosomes. The morphology and G-banding pattern of the chromosomes resembled those of Equus caballus and E. przewalskii. The karyogram of animals with 65 chromosomes was identical to that of the cross between E. caballus and E. przewalskii. It is suggested that the Caspian pony is the product of natural hybridization between E. caballus and E. prezwalskii. Low reproductive effeciency of the Caspian pony is suggested as the cause of decline in the population of these animals.
Budras KD, Scheibe K, Patan B, Streich WJ, Kim K.Semireserves were created by the European Conservation Project for scientific research in preparation for reintroduction in the wilderness. They are defined as enclosures large enough to carry a group of Przewalski horses throughout the year without any additional feeding. The semireserve offers diverse opportunities for significant scientific research. As part of a general screening program, the hoof development in a group of Przewalski horses was investigated in the semireserve Schorfheide near Berlin. Since the foundation of this semireserve in 1992, veterinary treatment was not necessary w...
Takai S, Sengee S, Madarame H, Hatori F, Yasuoka K, Ochirel E, Sasaki Y, Kakuda T, Tsubaki S, Bandi N, Sodnomdarjaa R.In native Mongolian horses, the incidence and distribution of Rhodococcus equi are poorly understood. One hundred and fourteen equine fecal samples and 71 soil samples were collected from the camp sites of 26 nomadic families located in three areas less than 100 km from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Five fecal samples were also collected from foals of Przewalski's Horses introduced into the Hustai National Park, Mongolia. No R. equi was isolated from the Mongolian horses or the soil samples. However, three colonies of R. equi were isolated from two fecal samples collected from foals of Przewalski's H...
Thompson R, Armién AG, Rasmussen JM, Wolf TM.A 25-yr-old, nulliparous, female Przewalski's wild horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) with a history of pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction and recent onset of serosanguinous vaginal discharge was euthanized after a period of lethargy and inappetance. Postmortem examination confirmed an infiltrative uterine adenocarcinoma, which is an uncommon neoplasia in equids. Reproductive disease is significant in this species as they are considered endangered by IUCN. Reproductive soundness and success are paramount to conservation efforts.
Dierenfeld ES, Hoppe PP, Woodford MH, Krilov NP, Klimov VV, Yasinetskaya NI.Circulating concentrations of alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, and lipids were quantified in 19 Przewalski horses (Equus przewalskii) inhabiting the steppes of Ukraine during June 1991. Foals (n = 3) had lower mean plasma alpha-tocopherol (4.7 micrograms/ml) and beta-carotene (0.3 microgram/ml) levels than did adults (n = 16; 6.6 and 0.7 micrograms/ml, respectively) and higher mean cholesterol concentrations (1.42 vs. 0.98 mg/ml). Mean triglyceride levels did not differ between foals and adults (0.46 mg/ml). Alpha tocopherol concentrations were substantially higher than those considered normal...
Ryder OA, Sparkes RS, Sparkes MC, Clegg JB.1. Through the use of isoelectric focusing and peptide analysis, the hemoglobins of Przewalski's horse. Equus przewalskii and the domestic horse, E. caballus have been compared. 2. Przewalski's horses have two separate alpha-globin chain polymorphisms similar to domestic horses. Each hemoglobin phenotype could be accurately determined by isoelectric focusing. 3. Confirmation of the electrofocusing hemoglobin determinations was made by comparison to amino acid composition analyses of purified tryptic peptides and by analysis of the rare hemoglobins phenotypes observed in a family of Norwegian t...
Sasaki M, Endo H, Yamagiwa D, Yamamoto M, Arishima K, Hayashi Y.The skeletal feature was observed in Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii) and the domestic horse (E. caballus). As results of the observations, remarkable differences were found in the scapula. The caudal border of the scapula in Przewalski's horse is curved in the caudal direction more than that of the domestic horse. Moreover, in the domestic horse, the sharp caudal border is formed by the shift of the outer muscular line (Linea muscularis) to the border. In Przewalski's horse, however, the caudal border is rounded because the outer muscular line does not shift to the border but lies besid...
Zhang K, Zhou R, Huang H, Ma W, Qi Y, Li B, Zhang D, Li K, Chu H.The aim of this study was to identify the aggregation sites and transmission characteristics of Gasterophilus pecorum, the dominant pathogen of endangered equines in desert steppe. Therefore, we tested with a four-arm olfactometer the olfactory response of the G. pecorum adults to the odors that have a great impact on their life cycle, and also investigated the occurrence sites of the adults in the area where the Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii) roam frequently during the peak period of G. pecorum infection. The results of four-directional olfactory test showed that the fresh horse feces...
Liu C, Lei H, Ran X, Wang J.The Guizhou pony (GZP) is an indigenous species of equid found in the mountains of the Guizhou province in southwest China. We selected four regions of the equine leukocyte antigen (ELA), including , , and and used them to assess the diversity of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II gene using direct sequencing technology. had the lowest / ratio (0.560) compared with the other three loci, indicating that was conserved and could be conserved after undergoing selective processes. Nine , five , nine and seven codons were under significant positive selection at the antigen b...
Elsner J, Hofreiter M, Schibler J, Schlumbaum A.On large geographical scales, changes in animal population distribution and abundance are driven by environmental change due to climatic and anthropogenic processes. However, so far, little is known about population dynamics on a regional scale. We have investigated 92 archaeological horse remains from nine sites mainly adjacent to the Swiss Jura Mountains dating from c. 41,000-5,000 years BP. The time frame includes major environmental turning points such as the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), followed by steppe vegetation, afforestation and initial re-opening of the landscape by human agricultur...
Hedrick PW, Miller PS.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...
Tang Y, Liu G, Zhao S, Li K, Zhang D, Liu S, Hu D.Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are the most polymorphic in vertebrates and the high variability in many MHC genes is thought to play a crucial role in pathogen recognition. The MHC class II locus DQA polymorphism was analyzed in the endangered Przewalski's horse, , a species that has been extinct in the wild and all the current living individuals descend from 12 founders. We used the polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) to detect the polymorphism within the MHC DQA in 31 Przewalski's horses from two reintroduced populations. Consequently, o...
Yoon SH, Lee W, Ahn H, Caetano-Anolles K, Park KD, Kim H.The Thoroughbred horse breed was developed primarily for racing, and has a significant contribution to the qualitative improvement of many other horse breeds. Despite the importance of Thoroughbred racehorses in historical, cultural, and economical viewpoints, there was no temporal and spatial dynamics of them using the mitogenome sequences. To explore this topic, the complete mitochondrial genome sequences of 14 Thoroughbreds and two Przewalski's horses were determined. These sequences were analyzed together along with 151 previously published horse mitochondrial genomes from a range of breed...
Fincham DA, Ellory JC, Young JD.In thoroughbred horses, red blood cell amino acid transport activity is Na(+)-independent and controlled by three codominant genetic alleles (h, l, s), coding for high-affinity system asc1 (L-alanine apparent Km for influx at 37 degrees C congruent to 0.35 mM), low-affinity system asc2 (L-alanine Km congruent to 14 mM), and transport deficiency, respectively. The present study investigated amino acid transport mechanisms in red cells from four wild species: Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii), Hartmann's zebra (Zebra hartmannae), Grevy's zebra (Zebra grevyi), and onager (Equus hemonius). Re...
Wiesner H, von Hegel G.Successful immobilisation of Przewalski's horses and zebras was obtained by using a combination of STH 2130 (Boehringer) and Tiletamin/Zolazepam.
Seong HS, Kim NY, Kim DC, Hwang NH, Son DH, Shin JS, Lee JH, Chung WH, Choi JW.The Jeju horse is an indigenous horse breed in Korea. However, there is a severe lack of genomic studies on Korean horse breeds. The objective of this study was to report genomic characteristics of domestic horse populations that inhabit South Korea (Jeju, Jeju crossbred, and Thoroughbred) and a wild horse breed (Przewalski's horse). Using the equine reference genome assembly (EquCab 2.0), more than ~ 6.5 billion sequence reads were successfully mapped, which generated an average of 40.87-fold coverage throughout the genome. Using these data, we detected a total of 12.88 million SNPs, of w...
Sander SJ, Joyner PH, Cray C, Rotstein DS, Aitken-Palmer C.Acute phase proteins are sensitive markers of inflammation, which are highly conserved across taxa. Although the utility of these proteins are becoming well defined in human and domestic animal medical fields, their role in nondomestic species remains unclear. In this communication, a 20-yr-old Przewalski's horse was presented for unresolving aspiration pneumonia, which cultured a unique Actinomyces-like bacteria. Despite waxing and waning clinical signs and minimal changes on baseline hematologic analysis, protein electrophoresis, serum amyloid A, and surfactant protein D serum concentrations...
Shotton JCR, Justice WSM, Salguero FJ, Stevens A, Bacci B. Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), also known as equine Cushing's disease, is widely reported in middle-aged to older domestic equids but to date reported in only one nondomestic equid, the onager ( Equus hemionus onager). This case series reports clinical, hematological, and pathological findings consistent with PPID in two further equid species: one Chapman's zebra ( Equus quagga chapmani) and five Przewalski's horses ( Equus ferus przewalskii). The case series reports basal adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) testing as a method to diagnose and monitor PPID in zoological equid...
Brooks SA.The sheer diversity of heritable physiological traits, and the ingenuity of genome derived research technologies, extends the study of genetics to impact diverse scientific fields. Equine science is no exception, experiencing a number of genome-enabled discoveries that spur further research in areas like nutrition, reproduction, and exercise physiology. Yet unexpected findings, especially those that over-turn commonly held beliefs in the horse industry, can create challenges in outreach, education and communication with stakeholders. For example, studies of ancient DNA revealed that the oldest...
D'Souza-Anjo M, Christensen BW, Brabender K, Zimmermann W, Kass PH, Schwarzenberger F.The aim of this study was to determine whether concentrations of reproductive steroid hormone metabolites significantly differed between harem stallions and bachelor stallions in the free ranging group of Przewalski's horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) at the Hortobágy National Park in Hungary. Throughout the study, fecal samples were collected from 21 harem stallions and 15 bachelor stallions and analyzed for immunoreactive estrogen and androgen metabolites. Harem stallions demonstrated significantly higher concentrations of estrogen (P < 0.001) and epi-androsterone (P < 0.001), ...
Jota Baptista C, Sós E, Madeira de Carvalho L.Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) is a subspecies of Equus ferus classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), whose gastrointestinal (GI) parasitism has been studied in different populations, in situ and ex situ, during the last decades. We aimed to summarize the information available on the subject. Methods: In this review, we collected information from distinct published literature, interpreted it, compared it and related the Przewalski's horse biology and ecology with different findings. Results: Many similarities can be found between the...
Zhou R, Yang J, Zhang K, Qi Y, Ma W, Wang Z, Ente M, Li K.The absolute dominant species that infests wild population of Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii) is Gasterophilus pecorum, and feces of released Przewalski's horse, a habitat odor, plays an important role in mating and ovipositing locations of G. pecorum. To screen out unique volatiles for attracting G. pecorum, volatiles from fresh feces of released horses at stages of pre-oviposition (PREO), oviposition (OVIP), and post-oviposition (POSO) of G. pecorum, and feces with three different freshness states (i.e., Fresh, Semi-fresh, and Dry) at OVIP were collected by dynamic headspace adsorptio...
Fu M, Li Y.The horse (Equus caballus) was domesticated thousands of years after dog, cattle, pig, sheep, and goat. Importantly, it represents the domestic animal that mostly impacted the development of human civilization. Its excellent loading and moving ability prompted the changes from fixed farming mode into mobile sharing mode. Accordingly, its domestication history deserves considerable attention. So far, many issues have long been controversial, due to the extinction of the closest wild relatives and the dramatic reduction of genetic diversity. With the continuous development of sequencing technolo...
Tang L, Gao Y, Yan L, Jia H, Chu H, Ma X, He L, Wang X, Li K, Hu D, Zhang D.The gut microbiome offers important ecological benefits to the host; however, our understanding of the functional microbiome in relation to wildlife adaptation, especially for translocated endangered species, is lagging. In this study, we adopted a comparative metagenomics approach to test whether the microbiome diverges for translocated and resident species with different adaptive potentials. The composition and function of the microbiome of sympatric Przewalski's horses and Asiatic wild asses in desert steppe were compared for the first time using the metagenomic shotgun sequencing approach....
Ning T, Ling Y, Hu S, Ardalan A, Li J, Mitra B, Chaudhuri TK, Guan W, Zhao Q, Ma Y, Savolainen P, Zhang Y.Despite decades of research, the horse domestication scenario in East Asia remains poorly understood. The study identified 16 haplogroups with fine-scale phylogenetic resolution using mitochondrial genomes of 317 horse samples. The time to the most recent common ancestor of the 16 haplogroups ranges from [0.8-3.1] thousand years ago (KYA) to [7.9-27.1] KYA. With combined analyses of the mitochondrial control region for 35 extant Przewalski's horses, 3544 modern and 203 ancient horses across the world, researchers provide evidence for that East Asian prevalent haplogroups Q and R were indigenou...
Leonardi M, Boschin F, Giampoudakis K, Beyer RM, Krapp M, Bendrey R, Sommer R, Boscato P, Manica A, Nogues-Bravo D, Orlando L.Wild horses thrived across Eurasia until the Last Glacial Maximum to collapse after the beginning of the Holocene. The interplay of climate change, species adaptability to different environments, and human domestication in horse history is still lacking coherent continental-scale analysis integrating different lines of evidence. We assembled temporal and geographical information on 3070 horse occurrences across Eurasia, frequency data for 1120 archeological layers in Europe, and matched them to paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental simulations for the Late Quaternary. Climate controlled the dis...
