The Old Kladruber horses arose in the 17th century as a breed used for ceremonial purposes. Currently, grey and black coat colour varieties exist as two sub-populations with different recent breeding history. As the population underwent historical bottlenecks and intensive inbreeding, loss of genetic variation is considered as the major threat. Therefore, genetic diversity in neutral and non-neutral molecular markers was examined in the current nucleus population. Fifty microsatellites, 13 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in immunity-related genes, three mutations in coat colour genes and one major histocompatibility (MHC-DRA) gene were studied for assessing genetic diversity after 15 years of conservation. The results were compared to values obtained in a similar study 13 years ago. The extent of genetic diversity of the current population was comparable to other breeds, despite its small size and isolation. The comparison between 1997 and 2010 did not show differences in the extent of genetic diversity and no loss of allele richness and/or heterozygosity was observed. Genetic differences identified between the black and grey sub-populations observed 13 years ago persisted. Deviations from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium found in 19 microsatellite loci and in five SNP loci are probably due to selective breeding. No differences between neutral and immunity-related markers were found. No changes in the frequencies of markers associated with two diseases, melanoma and insect bite hypersensitivity, were observed, due probably to the short interval of time between comparisons. It, thus, seems that, despite its small size, previous bottlenecks and inbreeding, the molecular variation of Old Kladruber horses is comparable to other horse breeds and that the current breeding policy does not compromise genetic variation of this endangered population.

Department of Animal Genetics Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Palackého 1 3 612 42 Brno Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Int J Immunogenet. 2005 Apr;32(2):91-8 PubMed

J Hered. 2005 Nov-Dec;96(6):670-8 PubMed

Genet Sel Evol. 2009 Jan 05;41:5 PubMed

Mamm Genome. 1996 Dec;7(12):895-9 PubMed

Evolution. 1975 Mar;29(1):1-10 PubMed

Anim Genet. 2006 Feb;37(1):33-9 PubMed

J Anim Breed Genet. 2012 Jun;129(3):234-43 PubMed

Tissue Antigens. 2012 Apr;79(4):247-8 PubMed

Anim Genet. 2004 Aug;35(4):270-7 PubMed

Annu Rev Genet. 1995;29:305-27 PubMed

Genet Mol Biol. 2011 Jan;34(1):68-76 PubMed

Anim Genet. 2007 Feb;38(1):20-7 PubMed

J Anim Breed Genet. 2005 Feb;122(1):69-72 PubMed

Vet Immunol Immunopathol. 2013 Apr 15;152(3-4):260-8 PubMed

Mol Ecol. 2010 Jun;19(11):2184-95 PubMed

Eur J Immunogenet. 1998 Oct;25(5):357-63 PubMed

Clin Genet. 2002 Apr;61(4):233-47 PubMed

J Hered. 2003 Mar-Apr;94(2):125-32 PubMed

Annu Rev Genet. 1994;28:467-89 PubMed

Anim Genet. 2004 Aug;35(4):285-92 PubMed

Nat Genet. 2008 Aug;40(8):1004-9 PubMed

Immunol Rev. 2002 Dec;190:9-25 PubMed

Evol Bioinform Online. 2007 Feb 23;1:47-50 PubMed

Mol Ecol Resour. 2011 Mar;11 Suppl 1:123-36 PubMed

Int J Immunogenet. 2005 Oct;32(5):277-83 PubMed

Mamm Genome. 2001 Jun;12(6):450-5 PubMed

Innate Immunity Toll-Like Triad TLR6-1-10 and Its Diversity in Distinct Horse Breeds