L. Marklund et al., A MISSENSE MUTATION IN THE GENE FOR MELANOCYTE-STIMULATING HORMONE-RECEPTOR (MC1R) IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CHESTNUT COAT COLOR IN HORSES, Mammalian genome, 7(12), 1996, pp. 895-899
The melanocyte-stimulating hormone receptor gene (MC1R) is the major c
andidate gene for the chestnut coat color in horses since it is assume
d to be controlled by an allele at the extension locus. MC1R sequences
were PCR amplified from chestnut (e/e) and non-chestnut (E/-) horses.
A single-strand conformation polymorphism was found that showed a com
plete association to the chestnut coat color among 144 horses represen
ting 12 breeds. Sequence analysis revealed a single missense mutation
(83Ser --> Phe) in the MC1R allele associated with the chestnut color.
The substitution occurs in the second transmembrane region, which app
arently plays a key role in the molecule since substitutions associate
d with coat color variants in mice and cattle as well as red hair and
fair skin in humans are found in this part of the molecule. We propose
that the now reported mutation is likely to be the causative mutation
for the chestnut coat color. The polymorphism can be detected with a
simple PCR-RFLP test, since the mutation creates a TaqI restriction si
te in the chestnut allele.