ABSTRACT OF THE WEEK

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Volume 14 | Issue 4 (February 2024)

Discrepancies between Genetic and Visual Coat Color Assignment in Sarcidano Horse.

Animals (Basel). February 2024;14(4):.

Maria Consuelo Mura¹, Vincenzo Carcangiu², Giovanni Cosso³, Nicolò Columbano⁴, Eraldo Sanna-Passino⁵, Sebastiano Luridiana⁶

¹ Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100 Sassari, Italy.; ² Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100 Sassari, Italy.; ³ Agris Sardegna, 07100 Sassari, Italy.; ⁴ Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100 Sassari, Italy.; ⁵ Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100 Sassari, Italy.; ⁶ Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100 Sassari, Italy.

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the discrepancies between genetic and visual coat color assignment in the Sarcidano Horse and to elucidate potential reasons. Individual DNA from 90 Sarcidano Horses was used for genetic assignment of coat color to explore the correspondence with individual forms containing phenotypical traits. The MC1R exon 1 and ASIP exon 3 have been genotyped and sequenced to obtain a picture of the coat color distribution in this breed. Surprisingly, once we compared the genetic results with the individual forms reporting the phenotypic data for each subject, a certain degree of non-correspondence between the phenotypic and genetic data in relation to coat color emerged. From the genetic analysis, Chestnuts (n = 58) resulted the most common Sarcidano Horse (n = 58), followed by a quite large number of Blacks (n = 28) and a very small number of Bays (n = 4), whereas phenotypic distribution resulted in 38 Chestnuts, 40 Bays, only 2 Blacks, and 10 Grays (without the possibility of recognizing the true color they carried). Chestnut resulted a very representative coat color, while many horses that visually identified as Bays were genetically Blacks. This discrepancy, that could be due to a variety of individual and external factors, including age, time of year, living situation and dietary condition, suggesting the importance of accurate coat color identification to ensure adequate features registration and reliable prediction of offspring's coat color.

Keywords

Sarcidano Horse pigmentation; basic coat color definition; offspring’s coat color prediction; phenotypic distribution;

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FAR/2020 Sassari University research fund 2020

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