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daraabah



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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 22:57 pm

“Speed Gene” Originated From British Mare 300 Years Ago
In Europe, scientists have traced the origin of the “speed gene” in thoroughbred racehorses “back to a single British mare that lived in the UK around 300 years ago”, according to findings published overnight in the scientific journal Nature Communications. The origin of the “speed gene” (C type myostatin gene variant) was revealed by analysing DNA from hundreds of horses, including DNA extracted from the skeletal remains of 12 celebrated thoroughbred stallions born between 1764 & 1930. Senior author of the study Dr Emmeline Hill (a genomics scientist at the School Of Agriculture & Food Science at University College Dublin) explained: “Changes in racing since the foundation of the thoroughbred have shaped the distribution of 'speed gene' types over time & in different racing regions. But we have been able to identify that the original 'speed gene' variant entered the thoroughbred from a single founder, which was most likely a British mare about 300 years ago, when local British horse types were the pre-eminent racing horses, prior to the formal foundation of the thoroughbred racehorse.” The international scientific team (led by scientists from University College Dublin, Equinome Ltd & the University of Cambridge) have traced all modern variants of the original speed gene to the legendary Nearctic (1954–1973) & attribute the wider expansion of these variants to Northern Dancer (1961–1990), son of Nearctic & one of the most influential stallions of modern times. Dr Hill noted: “Having first identified the 'speed gene' in 2010, we decided to see if we could trace the origin of the gene variant using population genetics coupled with pedigree analysis. We wanted to understand where speed in the thoroughbred came from. We traced the economically valuable gene variant by determining 'speed gene' type in almost 600 horses from 22 Eurasian & North American horse breeds, museum bone & tooth specimens from 12 legendary thoroughbred stallions, 330 elite performing modern thoroughbreds from 3 continents, 40 donkeys & 2 zebras.” (Jan 25)
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