Journal of Heredity 2003:94(2)
© 2003 The American Genetic Association 94:125-132
Inbreeding, Microsatellite Heterozygosity, and Morphological Traits in Lipizzan Horses
From the Animal Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture University of Zagreb, Sveto
imunska 25, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia (Curik); Department of Livestock Science, University of Agricultural Sciences Vienna, Gregor-Mendel-Strasse 33, A-1180 Vienna, Austria (Zechner and Sölkner); Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Cyto-, Immuno-, and Molecular Genetic Research, Veterinärplatz 1, A-1210 Wien, Austria (Achmann and Brem); Department of Animal Sciences, University of Veterinary Sciences Budapest, Istvan uca 2, H-1078 Budapest, Hungary (Bodo); Department of Animal Science, University of Ljubljana, Groblje 3, Sl-1230 Domzale, Slovenia (Dovc and Kavar); and Division of Immunogenetics, Institute of Animal Breeding, University of Bern, Bremgartenstrasse 109A, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland (Marti). Data analyzed in this study are part of the joint research project, "Biotechnical methods in the maintenance of the genetic diversity in the Lipizzan horse breed," EU-INCO-Copernicus project no. IC15CT96-0904.
Address correspondence to Ino Curik at the address above, or e-mail: icurik{at}agr.hr.
While the negative effects of inbreeding and reduced heterozygosity on fecundity and survival are well established, only a few investigations have been carried out concerning their influence on morphological traits. This topic is of particular interest for a small and closed population such as the Lipizzan horse. Thus, 27 morphological traits were measured in 360 Lipizzan mares and were regressed on the individual inbreeding coefficients, as well as on the individual heterozygosity and mean squared distances (mean d2) between microsatellite alleles within an individual. Both individual heterozygosity and mean d2 were based on 17 microsatellite loci dispersed over 14 chromosomes. The results obtained by multivariate analysis reveal significant effects of stud (P <.0001), age at measurement (P <.0001), and mean d2 (P =.0143). In univariate analyses, significant associations were obtained between length of pastern-hindlimbs and inbreeding coefficient (P <.01), length of cannons-hindlimb and mean d2 (P <.01), and length of neck and mean d2 (P <.001). After adjustment of single-test P values for multiple tests (Hochberg's step-up Bonferroni method), only the association of the length of neck and mean d2 remained significant (P =.0213). Thus, no overall large effects of inbreeding, microsatellite heterozygosity, and mean d2 on morphological traits were observed in the Lipizzan horse.
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