Abstract
The Arabian horse, one of the world’s oldest breeds of any domesticated animal, is characterized by natural beauty, graceful movement, athletic endurance, and, as a result of its development in the arid Middle East, the ability to thrive in a hot, dry environment. Here we studied 378 Arabian horses from 12 countries using equine single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays and whole-genome re-sequencing to examine hypotheses about genomic diversity, population structure, and the relationship of the Arabian to other horse breeds. We identified a high degree of genetic variation and complex ancestry in Arabian horses from the Middle East region. Also, contrary to popular belief, we could detect no significant genomic contribution of the Arabian breed to the Thoroughbred racehorse, including Y chromosome ancestry. However, we found strong evidence for recent interbreeding of Thoroughbreds with Arabians used for flat-racing competitions. Genetic signatures suggestive of selective sweeps across the Arabian breed contain candidate genes for combating oxidative damage during exercise, and within the “Straight Egyptian” subgroup, for facial morphology. Overall, our data support an origin of the Arabian horse in the Middle East, no evidence for reduced global genetic diversity across the breed, and unique genetic adaptations for both physiology and conformation.
Highlights
The Arabian horse, one of the world’s oldest breeds of any domesticated animal, is characterized by natural beauty, graceful movement, athletic endurance, and, as a result of its development in the arid Middle East, the ability to thrive in a hot, dry environment
Arabian horses in photographs made in the late 1800s and early 1900s often show less pronounced facial dishing and lower tail carriage[2], suggesting that these traits may be under strong selection by modern Arabian breeders, for lines of horses used primarily for non-ridden show competitions
An analysis of horse Y chromosome haplotypes has indicated that the Y haplotype of the “Darley Arabian” originated from the Turkoman horse, an ancient breed from the Middle East and Central Asia that is like the Arabian Horse, an “Oriental” type breed[21]
Summary
The Arabian horse, one of the world’s oldest breeds of any domesticated animal, is characterized by natural beauty, graceful movement, athletic endurance, and, as a result of its development in the arid Middle East, the ability to thrive in a hot, dry environment. An analysis of horse Y chromosome haplotypes has indicated that the Y haplotype of the “Darley Arabian” originated from the Turkoman horse, an ancient breed from the Middle East and Central Asia that is like the Arabian Horse, an “Oriental” type breed[21]. This calls into question the role of the Arabian as a founder of the Thoroughbred breed, and more generally, to its influence on other horse breeds
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