Horse Sport Ireland announce landmark publication to support next generation parentage verification in sport horses using leading edge DNA technology

Horse Sport Ireland announce landmark publication to support next generation parentage verification in sport horses using leading edge DNA technology

Horse Sport Ireland and Teagasc were joined by Minister of State for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Dr. Pippa Hackett to announce the publication of a method to accurately predict the DNA of stallions using the DNA of their offspring along with the dams of those offspring.

This landmark publication is a significant step towards transitioning from traditional microsatellite markers based on tens of DNA markers to more precise and modern parentage verification using thousands of DNA markers– these new DNA markers are called single nucleotide polymorphisms and (SNP) are state of the art. Moreover, these DNA markers enable parentage discovery as well as verification. DNA information from over 13,000 horses was analysed in the study. The hypothesis of the Irish team of globally renowned geneticists was that because every animal inherits half its DNA from its sire, then the DNA of several progeny can be used to predict (called impute) the DNA of a stallion. The study clearly demonstrated that this is possible and, importantly, having the DNA of the dam also improves the prediction accuracy. This advancement supports the integration of genomic selection into breeding programs as well as ensuring more accurate and efficient parentage verification and discovery.

Equine hair remains the preference for genotyping sport horses. However, this innovative method enables the imputation of stallion DNA genotypes where there are sufficient stallion offspring and their dams on the SNP genotype platform.

This is the first paper published in a scientific journal to validate the imputation of SNPs in stallions and the first scientific publication published by Horse Sport Ireland as lead author in a scientific journal confirming its commitment to science-based breeding. This article is published ‘open-access’, meaning it is free to access with the intention supporting studbook partners globally in their transition to SNP parentage verification.

L – R: Dr Sonja Egan, Head of Breeding Innovation and Development, Horse Sport Ireland Senior Geneticist Dr Jennifer Doyle, Professor Donagh Berry (Vistamilk/Teagasc) and Senator Pippa Hackett, Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Minister of State for the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, Dr. Pippa Hackett,

“I want to congratulate everyone involved in this very significant publication, which is a fantastic example of recognising where techniques used in the cattle and sheep sector can be adapted to benefit the sport horse industry. This research will support Horse Sport Ireland in the next steps of the equine SNP transition and it solidifies Ireland’s position as a global leader in this space. It’s also great to see the research being made freely available to support equine studbooks globally in their transition to SNP.”

The lead author on the publication, Dr Jennifer Doyle,

“I am delighted to present this innovative method to impute SNP-SNP genotypes, one of the challenges experienced by breeders during our MS-SNP transition was horses who we could not obtain hair samples for several reasons. This paper is based on the extensive work completed in the cattle and sheep section, where genotype imputation is standard practice. However, this is the first time this has been validated for use in horses. I hope that this paper supports studbooks worldwide in their transition to the SNP platform making it more accurate, efficient and cost effective.”

Co-author Professor Donagh Berry of Vistamilk and Teagasc,

“This is a significant step forward for the equine sector and demonstrates the value of industry collaboration to bring about practical change to support the breeders here in Ireland. Well done to Horse Sport Ireland, and in particular Dr. Jennifer Doyle on leading this piece of innovative research on genetic imputation for equines”

Co-author Dr Sonja Egan, Head of Breeding, Innovation and Development;

“Horse Sport Ireland announced last year that we would embark on exploring the potential to impute genotypes of horses to support this MS-SNP transition. The transition presented challenges for breeders for some breeders where parentage verification using the typical hair analysis pathway was not possible. We are delighted to announce the publication of this multi-institute research, which can be used to support this transition for breeders worldwide. Research is essential to support equine industry development and remains a key priority for Horse Sport Ireland. This is Horse Sport Ireland’s first lead author publication demonstrating our dedication to science-based breeding”

The MS – SNP transition is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine under National Breeding Services, publication costs funded by Teagasc. Delivered by Horse Sport Ireland, the National Federation.