Project Overview
This is a collaborative project with Matthew Binns, Royal
Veterinary College, London and Paula Jenkins, Natural History
Museum, London, on characterising genetic variation in thoroughbred
horses. Our contribution to this project is to identify the
genetic type of historic thoroughbreds, including famous race
winners such as Eclipse, Polymelus, Hermit and Hyperion, using
a variety of genetic markers both from mitochondrial and nuclear
DNA.
This project has been generating
exciting results and is now in the final stages of analysis and publication. Our team has been finding that DNA preservation
in these historic samples is excellent, and this allows the
exploration of more of the genome than is possible in older
samples. This opens the way for comparisons between living
genetic studies of traits described by nuclear DNA, for example
tracing inherited diseases back through time, an area particularly
pertinent to thoroughbred horses, which are prone to serious
genetic defects.
Associated Researchers
Matthew Binns (Royal Veterinary College)
Mim Bower (Glyn Daniel Laboratory)
Michael Campana (Glyn Daniel Laboratory)
Paula Jenkins (Natural History Museum)
Angela Murphy (Royal Veterinary College)
Paula Ware (Glyn Daniel Laboratory)
Mark Whitten (Glyn Daniel Laboratory/Royal Veterinary College)
Publications
Bower, MA, MG Campana, M Whitten, CJ Edwards, H Jones, E Barrett, R Cassidy, RER Nisbet, EW Hill, CJ Howe & M Binns. 2010. The Cosmopolitan maternal heritage of the Thoroughbred racehorse breed shows a significant contribution from British and Irish native mares. Biology Letters.
Bower, MA, M Whitten, RER Nisbet, M Spencer, KM Dominy, AM Murphy, R Cassidy, E Barrett, EW Hill & M Binns. Accepted 2010. Thoroughbred horse mitochondrial DNA demonstrates closer than expected links between maternal genetic history and pedigree records. Equine Veterinary Journal.
This project was funded by the Horserace Betting Levy Board
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Eclipse,
(1764 - 1789) was undefeated during his entire career, winning
all of his 18 races supposedly without being whipped or spurred.
Sampling the skeleton of Eclipse at the Royal Veterinary College
Historical Collection, with Custodian Deborah Walker and Conservator
Dominique Rogers. |
