Inter- and intrabreed diversity of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in primitive and draft horse breeds.
- Journal Article
- Research Support
- Non-U.S. Gov't
Summary
The research article investigates the diversity of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) gene in three horse populations and how artificial selection and environment influence this diversity. The study discovered the diversity is comparably high across all three horse populations, although new haplotype proportions were most noticeable in semiferal Konik Polski horses, suggesting the environment’s impact on MHC diversity in horses.
Introduction
The research focuses on the study of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes and their diversity in a selection of three horse populations: Polish draft horses, stabled Konik Polski horses and semi-feral Konik Polski horses. The MHC plays a vital role in a species’ immune response to a wide variety of pathogens, and its diversity is thus of great importance for health and survival. However, this diversity can be influenced by factors such as artificial selection practices in domesticated animals.
Methodology
The scientists started by extracting DNA samples from the three different horse populations. From these samples, MHC alleles and haplotype diversity was determined via analysis of 11 MHC microsatellite loci.
- The Polish draft horses made up the largest sample size, with DNA sampled from 100 horses.
- The stabled Konik Polski horses and the semi-feral Konik Polski horses had smaller sample sizes of 38 and 32 individuals respectively.
Findings
The diversity of MHC measured based on allelic richness, observed heterozygosity and expected heterozygosity was found to be similar across the MHC microsatellite loci in all three populations of horses. An interesting discovery was that the highest expected heterozygosity was detected in the semi-feral primitive horse population, while the lowest was calculated for the draft horses.
In the examination of haplotypes, a total of 203 different haplotypes were found:
- 111 in the Polish draft horses,
- 43 in the semi-feral Konik Polski horses, and
- 49 in the stabled Konik Polski horses.
Four haplotypes were shared between both the Konik populations but were exclusive to these populations and not found in previous investigations on other horse breeds.
Conclusion
The study concludes that while the three horse populations had diverse MHC allele and haplotype diversity, the semi-feral Konik Polski horses demonstrated the highest frequency of recombination and the most prevalent generation of new haplotypes. These results imply that the environmental factors might have had a higher influence on the genetic makeup of the horse’s MHC than artificial selection. The underlying mechanism for the generation of new MHC haplotypes was proposed to be intra-MHC conversion, insertion, deletion, and recombination.
Cite This Article
Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Gamete and Embryo Biology, Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Olsztyn, Poland.
- Department of Animal Molecular Biology, National Research Institute of Animal Production, Balice, Poland.
- Department of Gamete and Embryo Biology, Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Olsztyn, Poland.
- Research Station of the Institute of Reproduction and Food Research, Polish Academy of Sciences in Popielno, Ruciane-Nida, Poland.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Female
- Haplotypes
- Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / genetics
- Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / genetics
- Horses / genetics
- Inbreeding
- Male
- Microsatellite Repeats
- Polymorphism, Genetic
- Recombination, Genetic
Conflict of Interest Statement
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Citations
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