Selection on the Colombian paso horse's gaits has produced kinematic differences partly explained by the DMRT3 gene

PLoS One. 2018 Aug 17;13(8):e0202584. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202584. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

The Colombian paso horse, the most important horse breed in Colombia, performs specific and particular gaits (paso fino, trocha, and Colombian trot), which display different footfall patterns and stride frequencies. The breed has been selected for gait and conformation for more than 50 years and we hypothesize that this selection has led to kinematic differences of the gaits that can be explained by different genetic variants. Hence, the aims of the study were: 1. To identify if there are any differences in the kinematic and genetic variants between the Colombian paso horse's gaits. 2. To evaluate if and how much the gait differences were explained by the nonsense mutation in the DMRT3 gene and 3. To evaluate these results for selecting and controlling the horses gait performance. To test our hypotheses, kinematic data, microsatellites and DMRT3 genotypes for 187 Colombian paso horses were analyzed. The results indicated that there are significant kinematic and DMRT3 differences between the Colombian paso horse's gaits, and those parameters can be used partially to select and control the horses gait performance. However, the DMRT3 gene does not play a major role in controlling the trocha and the Colombian trot gaits. Therefore, modifying genes likely influence these gaits. This study may serve as a foundation for implementing a genetic selection program in the Colombian paso horse and future gene discovery studies for locomotion pattern in horses.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biomechanical Phenomena / genetics*
  • Breeding
  • Codon, Nonsense
  • Colombia
  • Gait / genetics*
  • Genotype
  • Horses / genetics*
  • Horses / physiology
  • Humans
  • Locomotion / genetics
  • Mice
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / genetics
  • Transcription Factors / genetics*

Substances

  • Codon, Nonsense
  • Dmrt3 protein, mouse
  • Transcription Factors

Associated data

  • figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.5877405
  • figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.5877468

Grants and funding

This work was supported by The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS) (GL), http://www.formas.se; and Genética Animal de Colombia Ltda., http://www.geneticaanimal.co (MNB); and Colfuturo-Colciencias, National PhD program 6172 https://www.colfuturo.org/scolciencias (MNB). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Miguel Novoa Bravo is personal of the company Genética Animal de Colombia Ltda. This funder provided support in the form of research materials, infrastructure, funding for research travel, and salary (after January the first 2018) for author MNB, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.