Miracle Albino Horse of Assisi

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d 13 April, 2015 - 15:24

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Scientists baffled by albino horse with browneyes

Scientists believe the genes of an albino yearling with brown eyes could hold the key toexpanding the equestrian world’s understanding of the equine genome(http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/archives/cracking-the-equine-genetic-code-56306).

Dubbed the “Miracle Horse of Assisi” due to her highly unusual colouring, the Italian trotterVia Lattea (which translates to Milky Way in English) was born on 5 April 2014.

Her breeder Sergio Carfagna is a successful racer of Italian trotters. Her sire Gruccione Jethas won €310,000 (£211,000) during his racing career, while her dam Melodiass hasproduced numerous foals that have gone on to become successful racers. Both GruccioneJet and Melodiass are dark bay.

Sergio Carfagna said: “Via Lattea was born albino. This is extremely rare. There are onlytwo other albino trotters ever recorded in the history of the world — one was born in Canadain 1998 and one in New Jersey in 2012. What makes this so incredible is that in Via Lattea’s

Scientists baffled by albino horse with brown eyes - Horse &... http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/albino-horse-with-br...

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case both the sire and the dam were dark bay.”

Why this foal was born albino remains unclear and has left scientists baffled. ProfessorMaurizio Silvestrelli, director of the Centre for Study of Horse Sport at the Faculty ofVeterinary Medicine in University of Perugia, has completed the first part of a genetic mapfrom Via Lattea’s DNA in an attempt to find out.


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This work has confirmed that although Via Lattea has dark brown eyes, she is a purealbino due to her white coat and pink skin that covers her entire body, including the areaaround the eye.

Professor Silvestrelli said: “To investigate the possible causative mutation, we first sequencedthe KIT gene exons. KIT gene mutations are the responsible genes for many variations ofwhite coats in horses. No polymorphisms were identified.

“In order to unveil Via Lattea’s coat mutation, we are planning to apply a ‘genome-wide’approach sequencing the foal genome at high resolution. In this way, with a relatively lowcost, we will be able to find candidate mutations for the coat and improve theknowledge of the horse genome.”

Her breeder is looking for a sponsor to fund sending Via Lattea’s samples to the United Statesat a cost of €20,000 (£14,000) in order to complete the second part of the genetic map.

It’s not clear whether Via Lattea’s future will be competing in trotting races, or if her talentswill lie in a different direction.

“I have been told that albinos are not made to race,” said Sergio, “but at this stage withany horse it is too soon to tell. I hope that she will be successful, but who knows.”

Information and pictures by Phoebe Tilelli

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Miracle Albino Horse of Assisi

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