Mitochondrial DNA: An important female contribution to thoroughbred racehorse performance

Mitochondrial genomes from modern horses reveal the major haplogroups that underwent domestication

“…Our data also show that the traditional restriction of horse mtDNA studies to a minor fragment of the control region, which is sometimes still practiced (12), and the proposed specificity of certain mtDNA clusters to pony breeds (six distinct haplogroups in our dataset) (SI Appendix, Table S1) (11) are no longer justifiable. Most importantly, now that a large number of horse haplogroups have been defined, each with diagnostic mutational motifs (in both coding and control regions), these haplotypes could be easily used to (i) classify well-preserved ancient remains, also taking into account the recent results obtained by second (and third) generation sequencing approaches (39), (ii) (re)assess the haplogroup variation of modern breeds, including Thoroughbreds (40), and (iii) evaluate the possible role of mtDNA backgrounds (41) in racehorse performance (42).…”

Nonautosomal Genetic Variation in Carotenoid Coloration

“…However, estimates of heritability may 80 be biased if non-autosomal sources of heritable variation are present but not modeled, leading to erroneous conclusions about the evolvability of a trait. Based on the shared biochemical pathways of intracellular energy production and the oxidation of carotenoids, Johnson and Hill (2013) recently suggested that carotenoid metabolism takes place at the inner mitochondrial membrane, highlighting the potential for functional sequence variation in the mitochondrial 85 genome (Lu et al 2010) to impact directly on coloration, much as it impacts aerobic performance (Harrison and Turrion-Gomez 2006;Niemi and Majamaa 2005). Given that mitochondria are maternally inherited (Brown 2008; though paternal leakage of mitochondrial DNA has been reported in birds: Kvist et al 2003), this raises the possibility that variation in carotenoid-based coloration is associated with extranuclear genetic variation.…”

“…Given that mitochondria are maternally inherited (Brown 2008; though paternal leakage of mitochondrial DNA has been reported in birds: Kvist et al 2003), this raises the possibility that variation in carotenoid-based coloration is associated with extranuclear genetic variation. To our knowledge, this has not been 90 explored in natural populations, although the methodology for estimating mitochondrial contributions to phenotypic variation has been applied within the animal breeding literature (e.g., Garmyn et al 2011;Harrison and Turrion-Gomez 2006;Pritchard et al 2008). …”

Racing pigeon identification using STR and chromo‐helicase DNA binding gene markers

“…Computer-coded leg bands have been adopted to avoid misidentification, but a more powerful identification method will be required when the bands are suspected of being fabricated or tampered. DNA has been used in similar circumstances for the identification of pedigree animals [1][2][3][4]. Microsatellite DNA or STR typing is one of the most powerful tools in individualization and parentage testing not only in humans but animals [5] and even plants [6].…”