It could help prevent the spread of diseases like Impressive's, and it could help owners of racehorses not only breed faster animals, but sounder ones. New vaccines also could develop from the research, said Ernest Bailey, a leading equine geneticist at UK's Gluck Equine Research Center. What breeders sometimes overlook in their pursuit of performance is good health. Poor bones, bad temperament, allergies and disease are passed down from one generation to the next. The gene map could keep such problems to a minimum by alerting breeders to the horses that could pass on defects, and how likely they would be to do so.
Genetic markers are signposts on chromosomes that are created by links between genes.
The horse was left behind, in part because its lack of culinary appeal and usefulness to Americans kept them out of the money for genetic mapping research projects. Recognizing the possible link, the people-oriented National Institutes of Health funded the equine research project.