Abstract
BackgroundAlthough harness racing is of high economic importance to the global equine industry, significant genomic resources have yet to be applied to mapping harness racing success. To identify genomic regions associated with harness racing success, the current study performs genome-wide association analyses with three racing performance traits in the Norwegian-Swedish Coldblooded Trotter using the 670 K Axiom Equine Genotyping Array.ResultsFollowing quality control, 613 horses and 359,635 SNPs were retained for further analysis. After strict Bonferroni correction, nine genome-wide significant SNPs were identified for career earnings. No genome-wide significant SNPs were identified for number of gallops or best km time. However, four suggestive genome-wide significant SNPs were identified for number of gallops, while 19 were identified for best km time. Multiple genes related to intelligence, energy metabolism, and immune function were identified as potential candidate genes for harness racing success.ConclusionsApart from the physiological requirements needed for a harness racing horse to be successful, the results of the current study also advocate learning ability and memory as important elements for harness racing success. Further exploration into the mental capacity required for a horse to achieve racing success is likely warranted.
Highlights
Harness racing is of high economic importance to the global equine industry, significant genomic resources have yet to be applied to mapping harness racing success
The genome-wide association (GWA) analysis of Career earnings (CE) yielded multiple genome-wide significant SNPs (p < 1.39 × 10− 7), with the majority of these SNPs residing on Equus caballus chromosome (ECA) 6 (Fig. 2; Table 3; Additional file 2)
Using the Norwegian-Swedish Coldblooded Trotter (NSCT), the current study explored the genetic background for athletic prowess in a harness racing horse by performing GWA analyses and functional classification for three traits associated with harness racing success
Summary
Harness racing is of high economic importance to the global equine industry, significant genomic resources have yet to be applied to mapping harness racing success. Significant genomic resources have been applied in studies attempting to map speed and racing success in TBs and QHs [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18]. While these studies have proven to be of great value for gallop racing breeds, their applicability to harness racing breeds has been limited [19,20,21]. A genomic study exploring locomotion pattern in Icelandic horses is arguably the most influential
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