ENDANGEREDHORSES · Conservation genomics of endangered indigenous European horse breeds
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2017-03-15 → 2019-03-14
- EU contribution
- €200,195
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Conservation genomics of endangered indigenous European horse breeds
Horses have been used throughout human history for transportation, warfare and plowing fields. Their central importance for human development has attracted a lot of attention from geologists as well as the ancient DNA community. Since the Industrial revolution, horses have diminished in terms of their importance. However, there are several thousands of horse breeds today. Especially in Europe, several of these horse breeds are iconic and representative of certain regions like the Camargue or the Friesian horses. Certain breeds used for racing or dressage can reach a very high market price. However, very little is known about their history and their origin. Furthermore very little is known about the state of their genetic diversity and whether long-term conservation can be achieved. The goal of this project was to sequence a large number of horses breeds and ideally various individuals per breed. The goal was to reconstruct population histories as well as try to identify some genomic targets for selection.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The European continent encompasses about half the total number of horse breeds on the planet. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, about a quarter of those breeds are currently endangered as they have been disused since the mechanization of farming and transportation, and have suffered massive losses during the first and second World Wars. These breeds were developed over long historical periods, in a variety of ecological and socio-cultural contexts. As such, they represent an invaluable component of our common genetic and cultural heritage and the living incarnation of European terroirs. Our proposal aims at undertaking the first genetic monitoring of ~120 endangered and autochthonous European breeds at a genome-wide level. Our extensive genetic dataset will enable a precise reconstruction of the horse breeding history in Europe, revealing the long-debated origins of iconic breeds and the genetic impact of different management strategies and environments. Additionally, it will open for an identification of breed-specific Ancestry Informative Markers and an estimation of key genetic parameters and population structure, allowing the development of informed conservation guidelines, aimed at maximizing the genetic potential of endangered breeds and minimizing mixing between breeds of unrelated history. Importantly, ENDANGEREDHORSES will showcase the potential of genome-wide approaches in helping preserve the genetic diversity of livestock resources, which is currently of concern for horses and all other domestic animals worldwide.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET · KOBENHAVNCoordinatorDenmark
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union