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A genome-wide association study for racing performances in Thoroughbreds clarifies a candidate region near the MSTN gene

  1. T. Tozaki1,
  2. T. Miyake2,
  3. H. Kakoi3,
  4. H. Gawahara3,
  5. S. Sugita4,
  6. T. Hasegawa4,
  7. N. Ishida4,
  8. K. Hirota1,
  9. Y. Nakano5

Article first published online: 10 NOV 2010

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2052.2010.02095.x

Issue

Animal Genetics

Animal Genetics

Special Issue: Horse Genomics and the Dorothy Russell Havemeyer Foundation

Volume 41, Issue Supplement s2, pages 28–35, December 2010

Additional Information

How to Cite

Tozaki, T., Miyake, T., Kakoi, H., Gawahara, H., Sugita, S., Hasegawa, T., Ishida, N., Hirota, K. and Nakano, Y. (2010), A genome-wide association study for racing performances in Thoroughbreds clarifies a candidate region near the MSTN gene. Animal Genetics, 41: 28–35. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2052.2010.02095.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Molecular Genetics, Laboratory of Racing Chemistry, Utsunomiya, Tochigi.

  2. 2

    Comparative Agricultural Sciences, Graduate school of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto.

  3. 3

    Department of Genetic Analysis, Laboratory of Racing Chemistry, Utsunomiya, Tochigi.

  4. 4

    Equine Research Institute, Japan Racing Association, Utsunomiya, Tochigi.

  5. 5

    Department of Pharmacogenomics, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Showa University, Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan

*T. Tozaki PhD, Department of Molecular Genetics, Laboratory of Racing Chemistry, 1731-2 Tsurutamachi, Utsunomiya, Tochigi 320-0851, Japan. E-mails: ttozaki@lrc.or.jp and ttozaki@nyc.odn.ne.jp

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 10 NOV 2010
  2. Article first published online: 10 NOV 2010
  3. Accepted for publication 11 May 2010

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Keywords:

  • GWAS;
  • heritability;
  • horse;
  • racing performance;
  • Thoroughbred

Summary

Using 1400 microsatellites, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed to identify genomic regions associated with lifetime earnings and performance ranks, as determined by the Japan Racing Association (JRA). The minimum heritability (h2) was estimated at 7–8% based on the quantitative trait model, suggesting that the racing performance is heritable. Following GWAS with microsatellites, fine mapping led to identification of three SNPs on ECA18, namely, g.65809482T>C (P = 1.05E-18), g.65868604G>T (P = 6.47E-17), and g.66539967A>G (P = 3.35E-14) associated with these performance measures. The haplotype of these SNPs, together with a recently published nearby SNP, g.66493737C>T (P = 9.06E-16) in strong linkage disequilibrium, also showed a very clear association with the performance (P < 1E-05). The candidate genomic region contained eight genes annotated by ENSEMBL, including the myostatin gene (MSTN). These findings suggest the presence of a gene affecting the racing performance in Thoroughbred racehorses in this region on ECA18.

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