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Animals
Special Issues
Equine Genetics, Evolution, and Breeds
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Equine Genetics, Evolution, and Breeds

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Equids".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 1661

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Laura Patterson Rosa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Long Island University, New York, NY, USA
Interests: equine medicine and genomics; equine health; adaptation; population genetics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The genetic study of equine evolution and breeds offers essential insights into their long-standing relationship with humans, and the impact it has had on equine health, performance, and environmental adaptation traits. Furthermore, it carries the potential to illuminate evolutionary pathways and genomic foundations of breed and lineage-specific characteristics, supporting advances in selective breeding and the preservation of genetic diversity. This Special Issue invites submissions of original research and review articles exploring equine genetics across the domains of breed/population genetics and evolutionary adaptations. Manuscripts examining genetic contributions to physiological and behavioral traits, along with those addressing the conservation of rare and heritage breeds, are particularly welcome.

The areas of interest for this Special Issue include the following: genetic diversity and population structure across horse breeds, evolutionary adaptations in wild/feral and domesticated equine populations, conservation genetics and the management of rare or endangered breeds, the identification of genetic variants of disease, applications of genetic research for sustainable breed/population conservation.

Dr. Laura Patterson Rosa
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • horses
  • genomics
  • conservation
  • population
  • adaptation

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 8429 KB  
Article
The Impact of MEI1 Alternative Splicing Events on Spermatogenesis in Mongolian Horses
by Dailing Song, Guoqing Wang, Terigele Baterin, Yajuan Weng, Manglai Dugarjaviin and Bei Li
Animals 2025, 15(23), 3435; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15233435 - 28 Nov 2025
Viewed by 173
Abstract
Background: Normal spermatogenesis in Mongolian horses depends on the mitotic division of spermatogonia, two successive meiotic divisions, and the morphological transformation of spermatids into mature spermatozoa. The MEI1 gene is involved in the meiosis cycle and is required for normal chromosome association during [...] Read more.
Background: Normal spermatogenesis in Mongolian horses depends on the mitotic division of spermatogonia, two successive meiotic divisions, and the morphological transformation of spermatids into mature spermatozoa. The MEI1 gene is involved in the meiosis cycle and is required for normal chromosome association during meiosis. Previous studies have shown that alternative splicing of MEI1 may promote spermatogenesis in Mongolian horses. In this paper, the regulatory effects of different MEI1 alternative splicing events on Mongolian horse spermatogenesis are investigated. Results: In this study, two overexpressed lentiviral vectors with mutually exclusive exon (MXE) and skipped exon (SE) events of MEI1 were constructed and successfully used to infect Sertoli cells. After 72 h of viral infection, the expression of MEI1 was higher in the SE event than in the MXE event (p < 0.001), as shown by fluorescence quantification; transcriptomics and metabolomics were then used to screen and annotate the differential genes and metabolites, and 193 differentially expressed genes (comprising 109 genes, such as MEI1, and 84 genes with upregulated and downregulated expression, respectively) and 11,360 differentially expressed metabolites (comprising 7494 and 3866 metabolites with upregulated and downregulated expression, respectively) were screened. Differential genes and metabolites were mainly enriched in several metabolic pathways related to spermatogenesis. Differential genes such as IL31RA, ATP2B3, and CASQ2 were highly expressed in SE events, while IL11, PRLR, and CCR7 were highly expressed in MXE events. Metabolites such as folic acid and spermine were highly expressed during SE events, while citric acid and glutathione were highly expressed during MXE events. This suggests that both MXE and SE events of the MEI1 gene can promote the activity of the spermatogenesis signaling pathway. Conclusions: The MXE and SE splicing events of the MEI1 gene may influence spermatogenesis by regulating the expression of spermatogenesis-related genes and metabolites. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for further investigations into the regulatory mechanisms of different alternative splicing events in Mongolian horse spermatogenesis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Equine Genetics, Evolution, and Breeds)
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20 pages, 6552 KB  
Article
Pilot Study on the Profiling and Functional Analysis of mRNA, miRNA, and lncRNA in the Skeletal Muscle of Mongolian Horses, Xilingol Horses, and Grassland-Thoroughbreds
by Wenqi Ding, Wendian Gong, Tugeqin Bou, Lin Shi, Yanan Lin, Huize Wu, Manglai Dugarjaviin and Dongyi Bai
Animals 2025, 15(8), 1123; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15081123 - 13 Apr 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 910
Abstract
Muscle fibers, as the fundamental units of muscle tissue, play a crucial role in determining skeletal muscle function through their growth, development, and composition. To investigate changes in muscle fiber types and their regulatory mechanisms in Mongolian horses (MG), Xilingol horses (XL), and [...] Read more.
Muscle fibers, as the fundamental units of muscle tissue, play a crucial role in determining skeletal muscle function through their growth, development, and composition. To investigate changes in muscle fiber types and their regulatory mechanisms in Mongolian horses (MG), Xilingol horses (XL), and Grassland-Thoroughbreds (CY), we conducted histological and bioinformatic analyses on the gluteus medius muscle of these three horse breeds. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that Grassland-Thoroughbreds had the highest proportion of fast-twitch muscle fibers at 78.63%, while Mongolian horses had the lowest proportion at 57.54%. Whole-transcriptome analysis identified 105 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the CY vs. MG comparison and 104 DEGs in the CY vs. XL comparison. Time-series expression profiling grouped the DEGs into eight gene sets, with three sets showing significantly up-regulated or down-regulated expression patterns (p < 0.05). Additionally, 280 differentially expressed long non-coding RNAs (DELs) were identified in CY vs. MG, and 213 DELs were identified in CY vs. XL. A total of 32 differentially expressed microRNAs (DEMIRs) were identified in CY vs. MG, while 44 DEMIRs were found in CY vs. XL. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that the DEGs were significantly enriched in essential biological processes, such as actin filament organization, muscle contraction, and protein phosphorylation. KEGG pathway analysis showed their involvement in key signaling pathways, including the mTOR signaling pathway, FoxO signaling pathway, and HIF-1 signaling pathway. Furthermore, functional variation-based analyses revealed associations between non-coding RNAs and mRNAs, with some non-coding RNAs targeting genes potentially related to muscle function regulation. These findings provide valuable insights into the molecular basis for the environmental adaptability, athletic performance, and muscle characteristics in horses, offering new perspectives for the breeding of Grassland-Thoroughbreds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Equine Genetics, Evolution, and Breeds)
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