Historical records suggest that horses inhabiting the island of Cheju in Korea are descendants of Mongolian horses introduced in 1276. Other studies, however, suggest that horses may have been present on the island prior to the Mongolian introduction. To determine the origin of the Cheju horses we used a phylogenetic analysis of sequences of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop region, including tRNA Pro and parts of tRNA thr and tRNA Phe sequences (1102-bp excluding the tandem repeat region). Maximum parsimony and neighbor-joining trees were constructed using sequences determined for seven Cheju, four Mongolian, one Przewalskii and two Chinese Yunnan horses, and published sequences for one Swedish and three Thoroughbred horses. Donkey mtDNA was used as an outgroup. We found that the mtDNA D-loop sequence varies considerably within Mongolian, Cheju and Thoroughbred horse breeds, and that Cheju horses clustered with Mongolian horses as well as with horses from other distantly related breeds. On the basis of these findings we propose that horses on Cheju Island are of mixed origin in their maternal lineage, and that horses may have existed and been traded on the island before the Mongolian introduction.

Two hundred and eighty-two alloantisera were submitted by 20 participating laboratories from 13 countries and tested against lymphocytes of 1298 cattle. The cell panel consisted of samples from 38 Bos tuurus breeds, 11 Bos tuurus crossbreeds, 4 Bos indicus breeds, 6 Bos tuurus X Bos indicus, and a variety of other crossbred populations. Using a standardized lymphocytotoxicity test, all 17 previously identified BoLA specificities were confirmed. The workshop produced agreement on 16 new lymphocyte alloantigenic specificities. Three of the new specificities behaved as splits of previously identified BoLA specificities. Four of the new specificities behaved as alleles at the agreed BoLA-A locus. Seven new specificities are tentatively assigned to the BoLA-A locus but require further definition. Two new specificities may represent products of a second closely-linked BoLA locus.