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Single gene causing extra gaits in horses

Itz August 31, 2012 August 31, 2012

Forums

A single gene that causes most of the gaits aside from walk, trot and canter has now been found: [url=http://www.uu.se/en/news/news-document/?id=1905&area=2,10,16&typ=artike… to article[/url] [url=http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112684484/genetics-gait-horses-mi… one[/url] I've found a few more articles online, so I think there's more info about it avalible. Some have yet to be translated from Swedish though. Just thought it might be interesting to read:)

Daylene Alford Sun, 09/02/2012 - 14:34

I think you misunderstood something...

From the paper:

[quote]with the exception of horses used for harness racing. Nearly all individuals from other gaited breeds were homozygous mutant, regardless of whether their four-beat alternate gait is characterized by lateral or diagonal couplets (Supplementary Table 1).[/quote]

Threnody Wed, 09/05/2012 - 17:02

I've been reading and rereading and I'm still a bit confused. It does seem to be recessive from what I've read though.

CMhorses Wed, 09/05/2012 - 17:26

I thought it said that if homozygous they have the ability to pace, but not in heterozygous form, but in heterozygous form they still had a fourth gate.

CMhorses Wed, 09/05/2012 - 20:29

This is what I think I was talking about, basically im getting that jn HZ form horses may have the ability to pace, but not all HZ horses pace, but in hz form, they don't pace at all. " Homozygosity for the mutation is required, but not sufficient for pacing, as many Standardbred trotters and some Icelandic horses that are homozygous mutant do not pace. In mice, a complete loss of Dmrt3 on one allele does not lead to any detectable phenotype, whereas in Icelandic horses, heterozygosity for the DMRT3_Ser301STOP mutation promotes tölt, supporting our hypothesis that the mutant protein in horses acts as a dominant negative form"

tjuri Fri, 09/07/2012 - 21:00

[quote=Threnody]My brain hurts now. :P So Heterozygous = 4 gaited and homozygous = 5 gaited?[/quote]

Yes, in Icelandics. In other gaited breeds the gait is more pronounced when homozygous and the ability to perform a clear trot is reduced at the same time.

Daylene Alford Mon, 09/10/2012 - 16:15

LOL just for a lark I was going to test one of my QH's that has a extra fast walk. I guess I won't be doing that...