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Frontiers in genetics2023; 14; 1099896; doi: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1099896

Exploring the Italian equine gene pool via high-throughput genotyping.

Abstract: The Italian peninsula is in the center of the Mediterranean area, and historically it has been a hub for numerous human populations, cultures, and also animal species that enriched the hosted biodiversity. Horses are no exception to this phenomenon, with the peculiarity that the gene pool has been impacted by warfare and subsequent "colonization". In this study, using a comprehensive dataset for almost the entire Italian equine population, in addition to the most influential cosmopolitan breeds, we describe the current status of the modern Italian gene pool. The Italian dataset comprised 1,308 individuals and 22 breeds genotyped at a 70 k density that was merged with publicly available data to facilitate comparison with the global equine diversity. After quality control and supervised subsampling to ensure consistency among breeds, the merged dataset with the global equine diversity contained data for 1,333 individuals from 54 populations. Multidimensional scaling, admixture, gene flow, and effective population size were analyzed. The results show that some of the native Italian breeds preserve distinct gene pools, potentially because of adaptation to the different geographical contexts of the peninsula. Nevertheless, the comparison with international breeds highlights the presence of strong gene flow from renowned breeds into several Italian breeds, probably due to historical introgression. Coldblood breeds with stronger genetic identity were indeed well differentiated from warmblood breeds, which are highly admixed. Other breeds showed further peculiarities due to their breeding history. Finally, we observed some breeds that exist more on cultural, traditional, and geographical point of view than due to actual genetic distinctiveness.
Copyright © 2023 Capomaccio, Ablondi, Colombi, Sartori, Giontella, Cappelli, Mancin, Asti, Mantovani, Sabbioni and Silvestrelli.
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Publication Date: 2023-01-23 PubMed ID: 36755577PubMed Central: PMC9900106DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1099896Google Scholar: Lookup
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Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

The article titled “Exploring the Italian equine gene pool via high-throughput genotyping” examines the genetic diversity of different horse breeds in Italy, using data from a significant portion of the Italian horse population, and compares it with global equine diversity. This study also analyzed factors like gene flow and effective population size.

Methodology and Data Collection

  • The researchers collected a dataset consisting of 1,308 horses from 22 different breeds within Italy. The horses included in the study were genotyped at a 70k density, providing detailed genetic information for each individual.
  • To facilitate a global comparison, this Italian dataset was merged with publicly available data about global equine diversity. After conducting quality control and supervised subsampling to ensure consistency among breeds, the merged dataset had 1,333 individuals from 54 populations.

Analyzing the Genomic Data

  • The researchers used multivariate methods like multidimensional scaling and admixture analysis to explore the relationships among different breeds and identify potential hybrids.
  • They also looked at gene flow – the introduction and assimilation of genes from one population to another – and effective population size, which is a measure of the number of individuals in a population who contribute to the next generation, to understand the dynamics of the breed populations.

Findings

  • Their analysis revealed that some native Italian horse breeds have distinct gene pools, which they believe might be due to adaptation to different geographical contexts within Italy.
  • They also discovered that several Italian breeds are strongly influenced by gene flow from famous international breeds, likely due to historical genetic intermingling (“introgression”).
  • They were able to differentiate between coldblood breeds, characterized by strong genetic identities and warmblood breeds, who are spottily mixed genetically.
  • Moreover, they found that some horse breeds’ uniqueness is more attributed to cultural, traditional, and geographical factors rather than to genetics.

Cite This Article

APA
Capomaccio S, Ablondi M, Colombi D, Sartori C, Giontella A, Cappelli K, Mancin E, Asti V, Mantovani R, Sabbioni A, Silvestrelli M. (2023). Exploring the Italian equine gene pool via high-throughput genotyping. Front Genet, 14, 1099896. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2023.1099896

Publication

Frontiers in genetics
ISSN: 1664-8021
NlmUniqueID: 101560621
Country: Switzerland
Language: English
Volume: 14
Pages: 1099896
PII: 1099896

Researcher Affiliations

Capomaccio, Stefano
  • Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
  • Sport Horse Research Centre (CRCS), University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
Ablondi, Michela
  • Department of Veterinary Science, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
Colombi, Daniele
  • Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
  • Department of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
Sartori, Cristina
  • Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals, and Environment, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Giontella, Andrea
  • Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
  • Sport Horse Research Centre (CRCS), University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
Cappelli, Katia
  • Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
  • Sport Horse Research Centre (CRCS), University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
Mancin, Enrico
  • Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals, and Environment, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Asti, Vittoria
  • Department of Veterinary Science, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
Mantovani, Roberto
  • Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals, and Environment, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Sabbioni, Alberto
  • Department of Veterinary Science, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
Silvestrelli, Maurizio
  • Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
  • Sport Horse Research Centre (CRCS), University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Citations

This article has been cited 6 times.
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