All You Need To Know About Equine DNA Testing

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By Eula Clarke


DNA is the blueprint of all living things. It contains information that dictates how they breathe, eat, reproduce and look like. DNA technology has revolutionized how we do things. It enables one to determine parentage, predict the appearance of a phenotype or even a disease present in the parent population to the offspring. This technology is not only available for humans but also for animals such as horses. Equine DNA testing is used on horses.

There are various why one would like their horse tested. One is to establish parentage before breeding. It is always very crucial to determine pedigree information scientifically before making any breeding decisions. Observation, manual identification and record keeping may not be adequate and are prone to errors.

During breeding, a breeder identifies animals with better performance, endurance or other characteristics that are desirable. It is only DNA technology that can ensure this is done accurately. It also helps determine whether a horse is at risk of developing a certain genetic disease and also to choose some phenotypic characteristics through constructing a genetic profile.

There are numerous laboratories where these tests can be done. A search on any of the search engines reveals quite a number. All you have to do is follow the instructions for collecting samples and collect them. After collection, you may send them to any of the laboratories through the mail and from almost all countries around the globe.

The tests may vary in costs depending on the type and number of scheduled tests. Once the analysis is complete, the company will send a copy of the results to you. The results are in the form of a chart that the layman may find hard to understand. However, they will call to explain further what the results mean and the implications for the horse.

The collection of samples is not difficult at all. It all depends on the sample to be collected. Hair samples are the most preferred and are collected by plucking a few strands of the tail or the mane. Cheek cells can be obtained by gently brushing the insides of the cheek using a cheek brush. For blood samples, 3ml is drawn and transferred to an EDTA Vacutainer tube for mailing.

When these samples arrive at the laboratory, DNA is extracted. It is extracted from the hair follicle cells in the hair sample and from the nucleus in the cells of this cheek or the blood. After extraction, twelve specific gene markers are tested to produce a profile or genotype of the equine. Note that each of the markers bears a pair of alleles, and each pair is from each parent.

DNA technology has become important in our lives and also that of other living beings on Earth. Breeders are able to determine parentage of a horse from the tests. However, the sire and the dam have to be registered prior to the test in order to match the genes of the foal.




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