Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2019
Signatures of selection in the genome of Swedish warmblood horses selected for sport performance
Ablondi, Michela; Viklund, Asa; Lindgren, Gabriella; Eriksson, Susanne; Mikko, SofiaAbstract
Background A growing demand for improved physical skills and mental attitude in modern sport horses has led to strong selection for performance in many warmblood studbooks. The aim of this study was to detect genomic regions with low diversity, and therefore potentially under selection, in Swedish Warmblood horses (SWB) by analysing high-density SNP data. To investigate if such signatures could be the result of selection for equestrian sport performance, we compared our SWB SNP data with those from Exmoor ponies, a horse breed not selected for sport performance traits. Results The genomic scan for homozygous regions identified long runs of homozygosity (ROH) shared by more than 85% of the genotyped SWB individuals. Such ROH were located on ECA4, ECA6, ECA7, ECA10 and ECA17. Long ROH were instead distributed evenly across the genome of Exmoor ponies in 77% of the chromosomes. Two population differentiation tests (F-ST and XP-EHH) revealed signatures of selection on ECA1, ECA4, and ECA6 in SWB horses. Conclusions Genes related to behaviour, physical abilities and fertility, appear to be targets of selection in the SWB breed. This study provides a genome-wide map of selection signatures in SWB horses, and ground for further functional studies to unravel the biological mechanisms behind complex traits in horses.Keywords
Haplotype homozygosity; Horse; Performance; Runs of homozygosity; Selection signaturePublished in
BMC Genomics2019, volume: 20, number: 1, article number: 717
Publisher: BMC
Authors' information
Ablondi, Michela (Ablondi, Michela)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics
University of Parma
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics
University of Leuven (KU Leuven)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics
UKÄ Subject classification
Animal and Dairy Science
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-019-6079-1
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/102047