Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Genome Diversity And The Origin Of The Arabian Horse, Elissa J. Cosgrove, Raheleh Sadeghi, Florencia Schlamp, Heather M. Holl, Mohammad Moradi-Shahrbabak, Seyed Reza Miraei-Ashtiani, Salma Abdalla, Ben Shykind, Mats H. T. Troedsson, Monika Stefaniuk-Szmukier, Anil Prabhu, Stefania Bucca, Monika Bugno-Poniewierska, Barbara Wallner, Joel Malek, Donald C. Miller, Andrew G. Clark, Douglas F. Antczak, Samantha A. Brooks

Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

The Arabian horse, one of the world's oldest breeds of any domesticated animal, is characterized by natural beauty, graceful movement, athletic endurance, and, as a result of its development in the arid Middle East, the ability to thrive in a hot, dry environment. Here we studied 378 Arabian horses from 12 countries using equine single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays and whole-genome re-sequencing to examine hypotheses about genomic diversity, population structure, and the relationship of the Arabian to other horse breeds. We identified a high degree of genetic variation and complex ancestry in Arabian horses from the Middle East region. Also, …