Horse Genomics: Linear Mapping and Microarray Development

Health problems not solved by previous technologies require new approaches. Just as human medicine continues to benefit from the application of genomics, all aspects of equine veterinary care will benefit from the ability to compare gene function between healthy and diseased individuals or tissues. Genomic tools can be applied for greater understanding of inflammatory, allergic, developmental and infectious diseases of horses. Furthermore, making this information available through an online-database and the generation of research tools available for cost of raw materials will promote new approaches to problems. With this proposal, we offer to more than double the size of the existing linear gene map for the horse and develop a sister technology to investigate gene expression in horses. By the end of this project over 5000 genes and genetic markers will be localized to the horse genome and their relationships to the 32 pairs of horse chromosomes unambiguously determined. More importantly, we will continue the work begun in the previous grant, accomplishing the construction of a microarray DNA chip containing approximately 10,000 genes to be used by scientists in studies on a wide range of horse diseases. With 10,000 elements, the chip will be able to recognize approximately one-third of the expressed genes in the horse and, arguably, all of the pathways that may be up- or down-regulated in the course of a disease process. Reseaerch applications will be made using both the DNA chip and the linear map that will create new knowledge benefiting the health and welfare of horses.