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Validation of microsatellite markers for routine horse parentage testing
A T Bowling1, M L Eggleston-Stott, G Byrns
1Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, University of California, Davis 95616, USA.
Animal Genetics
|August 1, 1997
Summary
DNA and blood typing methods effectively verify horse parentage, with DNA typing offering robust genetic incompatibility evidence. This study validated these techniques for accurate pedigree verification in Quarter Horses.
Area of Science:
- Animal Genetics
- Forensic Science
Background:
- Accurate parentage verification is crucial for horse pedigree integrity.
- Traditional blood typing and modern DNA typing methods are used for parentage testing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate DNA markers for horse pedigree verification.
- To compare the effectiveness of blood typing and DNA typing in parentage testing.
Main Methods:
- Parallel testing of 4803 Quarter Horse parentage cases.
- Utilized 15 loci for blood group and protein polymorphisms (blood typing).
- Employed 11 loci for dinucleotide repeat microsatellites (DNA typing).
Main Results:
- Combined 26 loci showed 99.999% theoretical effectiveness in detecting incorrect parentage.
- Identified incorrect parentage in 95 offspring (2% of cases).
- DNA typing demonstrated comparable effectiveness to blood typing, providing stronger evidence for exclusions.
Conclusions:
- DNA typing is a reliable method for horse parentage verification.
- Rare genetic events like null alleles or mutations did not lead to false exclusions when multiple systems were used.
- Actual effectiveness was 97.3% for blood typing and 98.2% for DNA typing, with potential for DNA typing improvement.