Spotting the Pattern: A Review on White Coat Color in the Domestic Horse

Traits such as shape, size, and color often influence the economic and sentimental value of a horse. Around the world, horses are bred and prized for the colors and markings that make their unique coat patterns stand out from the crowd. The underlying genetic mechanisms determining the color of a ho...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animals (Basel) 2024-01, Vol.14 (3), p.451
Main Authors: McFadden, Aiden, Vierra, Micaela, Martin, Katie, Brooks, Samantha A, Everts, Robin E, Lafayette, Christa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blindness
coat color
Deafness
depigmentation
Development and progression
Genetic markers
Genetics
Genotype & phenotype
horse
Horses
Hypotheses
Kinases
Mutation
Proteins
Skin
Transcription factors
white spotting
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Traits such as shape, size, and color often influence the economic and sentimental value of a horse. Around the world, horses are bred and prized for the colors and markings that make their unique coat patterns stand out from the crowd. The underlying genetic mechanisms determining the color of a horse's coat can vary greatly in their complexity. For example, only two genetic markers are used to determine a horse's base coat color, whereas over 50 genetic variations have been discovered to cause white patterning in horses. Some of these white-causing mutations are benign and beautiful, while others have a notable impact on horse health. Negative effects range from slightly more innocuous defects, like deafness, to more pernicious defects, such as the lethal developmental defect incurred when a horse inherits two copies of the allele. In this review, we explore, in detail, the etiology of white spotting and its overall effect on the domestic horse to Spot the Pattern of these beautiful (and sometimes dangerous) white mutations.
ISSN:2076-2615
2076-2615
DOI:10.3390/ani14030451