The evolution and genetics of horse mane growth
KEY POINTS- By combining whole-genome sequencing, gene expression, detailed hair measurements and evolutionary genomics, we aim to improve our understanding of both human hair disorders and the evolution of one of the horse's most distinctive features.
Project overview
Participants
More related research
Short summary
Hair growth is important for health, appearance and well-being, yet the genes controlling hair length and structure remain poorly understood. This project uses the horse as a unique natural model to uncover the genetic mechanisms behind hair growth.
Why horse manes?
Hair plays an important role in both humans and animals, but surprisingly little is known about the genetic mechanisms that determine how long hair grows or why hair differs in structure between individuals. Hair loss affects millions of people worldwide and can have major psychological consequences. Understanding how hair growth is genetically regulated is also important for several domestic animal species, where hair, wool or fibre production has economic value.
The domestic horse provides a unique opportunity to answer these questions. Unlike their wild relatives, many horse breeds have exceptionally long manes that continue growing throughout life. Horses also display remarkable natural variation in mane length, thickness, curliness and other structural characteristics, making them an outstanding natural model for identifying genes that regulate hair growth.
Our research
Our research combines whole-genome sequencing (WGS), advanced genomic analyses and detailed phenotyping of hair characteristics to identify the genetic variants responsible for differences in mane growth and hair structure. Multiple structural properties of individual hair fibres are measured and integrated with genomic data to better understand how genes influence hair biology.
The project has already identified several genomic regions and strong candidate genes associated with variation in mane growth and hair structure. These discoveries are providing new insights into the biological pathways that regulate hair growth and represent important steps towards identifying the underlying causal genetic variants.
The project also has an evolutionary perspective. By comparing domestic horses with ancient horses and wild equids, we investigate when the genetic variants responsible for long-growing manes first appeared and how human selection during domestication shaped this iconic trait.
Why is this important?
Our hypothesis is that the long-growing horse mane is largely the result of artificial selection during domestication, with humans favouring animals carrying genetic variants that prolonged the hair growth cycle. By identifying these variants, we can reconstruct the evolutionary history of the horse mane while uncovering fundamental biological mechanisms that regulate hair growth.
The findings are expected to improve our understanding of hair growth disorders in humans and may also reveal common genetic mechanisms shared across many mammalian species. More broadly, the project demonstrates how naturally occurring variation in domestic animals can provide fundamental insights into biology with relevance for both human medicine and veterinary science.