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Gait Performance
| Acronym: | GAITP |
| Gene: | DMRT3 |
| Mutation: | c.902C>A |
| Inheritance: | Autosomal Recessive |
| Sample type: | WBE (Whole Blood EDTA), HA (Hairs - with roots) |
Genetics and characteristics
Gait refers to a pattern of limb movement during locomotion in horses defined by footfall patterns and symmetry or asymmetry. Gait performance is a trait in several horse breeds exhibiting alternate forms of gaits. All horses have three naturally occurring gaits, which are walk (four-beat, lateral), trot (two-beat, diagonal), and gallop (four-beat). Some breeds have more than one form of a particular gait, especially at intermediate speeds, classified as pace (a two-beat gait) or ambling (a four-beat gait), which can be regular, lateral, or diagonal. Changes in gait performance can be caused by a genetic mutation in the doublesex and mab-3 related transcription factor 3 (DMRT3) gene responsible for locomotion in horses. The missense mutation in the DMRT3 gene causes a premature stop codon, and the protein is not functional, leading to the inability to perform alternate gaits and pace.
Gait performance is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait, meaning that two copies of the mutation are needed for a horse to be affected. The mutation can occur in gaited horse breeds, such as Icelandic horses, Kentucky mountain saddle horses, Missouri fox trotter, Paso Fino, Peruvian Paso, Rocky mountain horse, and Tennessee walking horse. Early detection by genetic testing can help identify carriers of the mutation and help breeders in further selection of mating pairs.
Results Reported As
Test Result |
Interpretation of test result |
Low gait ability |
Horse does not have the gene with the mutation and has a low ability to perform additional gaits. |
Intermediate gait ability |
Horse has one copy of the gene with the mutation and has an intermediate ability to perform additional gaits. |
High gait ability |
Horse has two copies of the gene with the mutation and has a high ability to perform additional gaits. |
References:
Andersson, L. S., Larhammar, M., Memic, F., Wootz, H., Schwochow, D., Rubin, C.-J., … Kullander, K. (2012). Mutations in DMRT3 affect locomotion in horses and spinal circuit function in mice. Nature, 488(7413), 642–646. doi:10.1038/nature11399
McCoy, A. M., Beeson, S. K., Rubin, C.-J., Andersson, L., Caputo, P., Lykkjen, S., … McCue, M. E. (2019). Identification and validation of genetic variants predictive of gait in standardbred horses. PLOS Genetics, 15(5), e1008146. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1008146
Staiger, E. A., Almén, M. S., Promerová, M., Brooks, S., Cothran, E. G., Imsland, F., … Andersson, L. (2017). The evolutionary history of the DMRT3 Gait keeper haplotype. Animal Genetics, 48(5), 551–559. doi:10.1111/age.12580