%0 Journal Article
%T Identification of horse chestnut coat color genotype using SNaPshot£¿
%A Fernando Rendo
%A Mikel Iriondo
%A Carmen Manzano
%A Andone Estonba
%J BMC Research Notes
%D 2009
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1756-0500-2-255
%X In order to assess coat color genotype in reproductive animals with a view to avoiding those bearing chestnut alleles, we have developed a reliable, fast and cost-effective screening device which involves Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) detection based on SNaPshot£¿ (Applied Biosystems) methodology. We have applied this method to four native breeds from the Iberian Cantabrian Coast: Pottoka and Jaca Navarra pony breeds, in which only black or bay coats are acceptable, and Euskal Herriko Mendiko Zaldia and Burguete heavy breeds, in which chestnut coats are acceptable. The frequency of the chestnut alleles ranged between f = 0.156-0.322 in pony breeds and between f = 0.604-0.716 in heavy breeds.This study demonstrates the usefulness of the DNA methodology reported herein as a device for identifying chestnut alleles; the methodology constitutes a valuable tool for breeders to decrease the incidence of chestnut animals among Cantabrian Coast pony breeds.Local horse breeds in the Cantabrian Coast of the Iberian Peninsula include the Pottoka, Jaca Navarra, Losino, Monchino, Asturc¨®n, Galego and Garrano ponies, and the Euskal Herriko Mendiko Zaldia (EHMZ) and Burguete heavy breeds. With a view to preserving these breeds, purebred standards have recently been defined. For the pony breeds, black and bay colors are considered to be the original coat colors [1,2], even though chestnut individuals do exist, while both bay and chestnut coats are the typical coat colors in the EHMZ and Burguete breeds. The absence of chestnut horses in the Iberian Peninsula until the Medieval Age [3], together with the naturally occurring isolation of these breeds, suggest that introgression of chestnut alleles most likely occurred around the 1930s when local mares were crossed with stallions of Breton, Percheron and Ardennais breeds, which are mainly chestnut, to improve the capacity for agricultural work and meat production [4]. For this reason, chestnut coat color individuals are not allow
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/2/255