Distribution of coat-color-associated alleles in the domestic horse population and Przewalski’s horse

Abstract

Considering the hidden mode of inheritance of some coat-color-associated alleles, we investigated the presence/absence of coat-color-associated alleles in 1093 domestic horses of 55 breeds and 20 specimens of Przewalski's horse. For coat-color genotyping, allele specific PCR, pyrosequencing and Li-Cor analyses were conducted on 12 coat-color-associated alleles of five genes. Our data provide deep insight into the distribution of coat-color-associated alleles within breeds. We found that the alleles for the basic colorations (bay, black, and chestnut) are widely distributed and occur in nearly all breeds. Alleles leading to dilutions or patterns are rare in domestic breeds and were not found in Przewalski's horse. Higher frequencies of these alleles are only found in breeds that are selected for their expressed phenotypes (e.g., Kinsky horse, Lewitzer, Tinker). Nevertheless, our study produced strong evidence that molecular testing of the coat color is necessary for well-defined phenotyping to avoid unexpected colorations of offspring that can result in legal action.

Variabilidad genética del caballo (Equus caballus) mediante genes del pelaje en Sahagún, Córdoba, Colombia

“…En un estudio realizado recientemente se encontró que la frecuencia del gen Tobiano fue baja (4.2%) y su avistamiento en ocho razas identifican al marcador Tobiano como más común en caballos domésticos que no han perdido los rasgos nativos. Es así que la ausencia de este marcador en la mayoría de las razas de caballos modernas es probablemente el producto de la selección en contra de individuos que porten este marcador (Reissmann et al, 2016). Otro marcador de baja frecuencia fue Roan (p=0.0249).…”

Coat Color Roan Shows Association with KIT Variants and No Evidence of Lethality in Icelandic Horses

“…Another reason could be that the allele causing roan is different between breeds. For instance, breed-specific segregation of coat color alleles is known for chestnut ( MC1R ) [ 33 ], White spotting ( KIT ) [ 34 ] and Sabino [ 7 , 35 ].…”

An Agouti-Signaling-Protein Mutation is Strongly Associated with Melanism in European Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus)

“…Altogether and regardless of other genetic reasons for melanism, e.g., [17][18][19][20][21][22][23], investigation of segregation of both alleles, mutated and non-mutated, in a set of 495 samples produced a perfect association resulting in extremely high statistical support under different scenarios and providing strong arguments that the mutation c.33.G>T causes the black phenotype in European roe deer. Considering the high frequency of melanistic individuals in the North-West German lowland population, it cannot be excluded that melanism had a selective advantage (e.g., camouflage) as previously discussed for other species [3,18,24].…”