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Population studies of 17 equine STR for forensic and phylogenetic analysis.
Abstract: As a consequence of the close integration of horses into human society, equine DNA analysis has become relevant for forensic purposes. However, the information content of the equine Short Tandem Repeat (STR) loci commonly used for the identification or paternity testing has so far not been fully characterized. Population studies were performed for 17 polymorphic STR loci (AHT4, AHT5, ASB2, ASB17, ASB23, CA425, HMS1, HMS2, HMS3, HMS6, HMS7, HTG4, HTG6, HTG7, HTG10, LEX3 and VHL20) including 8641 horses representing 35 populations. The power of parental exclusion, polymorphic information content, expected and observed heterozygosity and probability of identity were calculated, showing that the set of 17 STRs has sufficient discriminating power for forensic analysis in almost all breeds. We also explored the reliability of individual assignment tests in identifying the correct breeds of origin for unknown samples. The overall proportion of individuals correctly assigned to a population was 97.2%. Finally, we demonstrate the phylogenetic signal of the 17 STR. We found three clusters of related breeds: (i) the cold-blooded draught breeds Haflinger, Dutch draft and Friesian; (ii) the pony breeds Shetland and Miniature horse with the Falabella, Appaloosa and Icelandic; and (iii) The Warmblood riding breeds, together with the hot-blooded Standard-bred, Thoroughbred and Arabian.
© 2011 Dr. Van Haeringen Laboratorium BV, Animal Genetics © 2011 Stichting International Foundation for Animal Genetics.
Publication Date: 2011-04-14 PubMed ID: 22035004DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2052.2011.02194.xGoogle Scholar: Lookup The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
- Journal Article
Summary
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This research paper discusses an in-depth study of the genetic variations in horses with an aim to understanding their usefulness in forensic applications. The study examined 17 equine Short Tandem Repeat (STR) loci across 35 horse populations. It was found that this set of 17 STRs can effectively identify individual horses for nearly all breeds and accurately assign unknown samples to their correct origin breeds.
Exploration of Equine STR Loci
In scientific and forensic contexts, STR loci serve as valuable markers for identification due to their high variability. The horse DNA contains these short sequences of DNA that are repeated a number of times in a row. In this particular study, 17 of these were considered and their polymorphic information content was calculated across 8641 horses.
- The individual genetic variations were assessed for:
- AHT4, AHT5, ASB2, ASB17, ASB23, CA425
- HMS1, HMS2, HMS3, HMS6, HMS7
- HTG4, HTG6, HTG7, HTG10
- LEX3 and VHL20
Relevance for Forensics
Several calculations were performed to determine just how useful these loci could be for forensics.
- The power of parental exclusion: The probability that a randomly selected non-parent will be erroneously excluded as a possible parent.
- Polymorphic information content: The amount of information on genetic diversity that is provided by each STR marker.
- Expected and observed heterozygosity: Measures of genetic diversity within a population.
- Probability of identity: The chance that two randomly selected individuals in a population will have the same genetic profile for the selected STR markers.
The results showed that this set of STRs has a high discriminating power for identifying individual horses in almost all breeds.
Recognising Breeds
The study also explored how accurately the set of STRs could be used to assign unknown samples to their correct breeds of origin.
- Overall, the system was able to correctly assign individual horses to the proper breed 97.2% of the time.
Phylogenetic Analysis
On a broader level, the researchers were also interested in the genealogical relationships between different horse breeds. They found that the 17 STRs reveal significant phylogenetic signals. The detailed genetic analysis clustered the horse breeds into three groups:
- Cold-blooded draught breeds: Haflinger, Dutch draft, Friesian.
- Pony breeds: Shetland and Miniature horse, along with Falabella, Appaloosa, and Icelandic.
- Warmblood riding breeds: Together with the hot-blooded Standard-bred, Thoroughbred, and Arabian.
Cite This Article
APA
van de Goor LH, van Haeringen WA, Lenstra JA.
(2011).
Population studies of 17 equine STR for forensic and phylogenetic analysis.
Anim Genet, 42(6), 627-633.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2052.2011.02194.x Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Dr. Van Haeringen Laboratorium BV, Agro Business Park 100, Wageningen, The Netherlands. lgo@vhladmin.nl
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Genetics, Population
- Horses / classification
- Horses / genetics
- Male
- Microsatellite Repeats
- Pedigree
- Phylogeny
Citations
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