Breeders of top quality Plantation Walking & Mountain Saddle Horses. Specializing in buckskins and palominos. Standing naturally gaited, colorful stallions.
Horses for sale of all ages and training levels. Special section on equine color genetics. Equine Coat Color Genetics Base Coat Color The basic coat colors of horses include chestnut, bay, and black.
These are controlled by the interaction between two genes: Melanocortin 1 Receptor (MC1R) and Agouti Signaling Protein (ASIP). Whether you are looking to understand your horse's unique combination of color genes or are just curious to about the basics of equine coat colors, join us for this first installment of our "How to Read Your Horse's DNA Results" series. Equine coat color genetics Before domestication, horses are thought to have had these coat colors.
[1] Equine coat color genetics determine a horse 's coat color. Many colors are possible, but all variations are produced by changes in only a few genes. Bay is the most common color of horse, [2] followed by black and chestnut.
A Punnett square illustrating the possible coat color outcomes (black or bay) for the offspring of a bay mare (Ee) and a black stallion (EE) Horse color genetics involves many interacting genes. Understanding inheritance, dominant and recessive genes, and Punnett squares helps us appreciate the diversity of equine coat colors. Equine Coat Color Testing Base Color Every horse has a base color, which can be black, bay, or red.
This is controlled by the Extension (Red/Black Factor) and Agouti genes. The Extension gene controls the production of black or red pigment throughout the coat. The allele for black color (E) is dominant over the red allele (e), so a horse only needs one copy of the black allele to appear black.
The incredible rainbow of horse colors is all based on black, bay, and chestnut. These three colors are controlled by two genes called Extension and Agouti. The Extension gene (E) controls red and and black pigment.
If a horse has the genotype EE or Ee, they will have black skin and black hair. If they have the genotype ee, the black pigment will be limited to the skin and the hair will be red. That is why, for example, you could cross a black horse (EE or Ee) with a red horse (ee) and get a red horse (ee) - the black horse was heterozygous (Ee) for black.
This means that if a horse has only red pigment (is "ee" at the red/black locus), the genes at the agouti locus have no effect on that horse's color. If the horse DOES have an "E" gene, meaning it does have black pigment, the agouti genes affect it as follows. Details: The genotype is the genetic makeup (EE, Ee, ee), while the phenotype is the visible color.
E is dominant over e, so both EE and Ee horses appear black, while only ee horses appear red/chestnut.