title: The origin of ambling horses.
abstract: Horseback riding is the most fundamental use of domestic horses and has had a huge influence on the development of human societies for millennia. Over time, riding techniques and the style of riding improved. Therefore, horses with the ability to perform comfortable gaits (e.g. ambling or pacing), so-called 'gaited' horses, have been highly valued by humans, especially for long distance travel. Recently, the causative mutation for gaitedness in horses has been linked to a substitution causing a premature stop codon in the DMRT3 gene (DMRT3_Ser301STOP) [1]. In mice, Dmrt3 is expressed in spinal cord interneurons and plays an important role in the development of limb movement coordination [1]. Genotyping the position in 4396 modern horses from 141 breeds revealed that nowadays the mutated allele is distributed worldwide with an especially high frequency in gaited horses and breeds used for harness racing [2]. Here, we examine historic horse remains for the DMRT3 SNP, tracking the origin of gaitedness to Medieval England between 850 and 900 AD. The presence of the corresponding allele in Icelandic horses (9(th)-11(th) century) strongly suggests that ambling horses were brought from the British Isles to Iceland by Norse people. Considering the high frequency of the ambling allele in early Icelandic horses, we believe that Norse settlers selected for this comfortable mode of horse riding soon after arrival. The absence of the allele in samples from continental Europe (including Scandinavia) at this time implies that ambling horses may have spread from Iceland and maybe also the British Isles across the continent at a later date.
authors: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Saskia
authors: S
authors: Wutke
authors: Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors: Leif
authors: L
authors: Andersson
authors: German Archaeological Institute, Department of Natural Sciences, Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Norbert
authors: N
authors: Benecke
authors: Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico.
authors: Edson
authors: E
authors: Sandoval-Castellanos
authors: University of Potsdam, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany.
authors: Javier
authors: J
authors: Gonzalez
authors: The Agricultural University of Iceland, Faculty of Land and Animal Resources, IS-112 Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors: Jón Hallsteinn
authors: JH
authors: Hallsson
authors: Archaeological Research Collection, Tallinn University, Rüütli 10, 10130 Tallinn, Estonia.
authors: Lembi
authors: L
authors: Lõugas
authors: National Historical Museums, Contract Archaeology, 226 60 Lund, Sweden.
authors: Ola
authors: O
authors: Magnell
authors: Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Laboratory of Archaeozoology, Madrid, Spain.
authors: Arturo
authors: A
authors: Morales-Muniz
authors: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, 1350K Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors: Ludovic
authors: L
authors: Orlando
authors: The Agricultural University of Iceland, Faculty of Land and Animal Resources, IS-112 Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors: Albína Hulda
authors: AH
authors: Pálsdóttir
authors: Humboldt University Berlin, Faculty of Life Sciences, Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institute, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Monika
authors: M
authors: Reissmann
authors: Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom.
authors: Mariana B
authors: MB
authors: Muñoz-Rodríguez
authors: Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, 949 21 Nitra, Slovak Republic.
authors: Matej
authors: M
authors: Ruttkay
authors: University of Potsdam, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany.
authors: Alexandra
authors: A
authors: Trinks
authors: University of Potsdam, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany. Electronic address: michi@palaeo.eu.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Hofreiter
authors: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: ludwig@izw-berlin.de.
authors: Arne
authors: A
authors: Ludwig
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D000072441:DNA, Ancient / Q000032:analysis; D004739:England; D005684:Gait / Q000235:genetics*; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D049691:History, Medieval; D006736:Horses / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D007055:Iceland; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000266:history* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000072441:DNA, Ancient; D014157:Transcription Factors