New Color Test available!

[qtrmoonfarm]

http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/service/horse/index.html

UC Davis has listed the DUN gene test now, $50 a pop..but, at least there IS a test now

 

[Becky]

YEA!!!!!!

That is so exciting!!!!!!!

Just one more tool in the arsenal of color tests available to help determine coat colors!

 

[heart k ranch]

Maybe once Ringo gets here I'll get him tested......

 

[Joanne]

That is great news ! Now we will have another tool and some answers to our questions.

We have bought several horses listed as a dun on their papers. It will be great to know if they are really duns.

 

[wiccanz]

YAY!!!

I have a couple of candidates!!

Actually, I don't think either one is dun, but people keep trying to tell me they are, so now I can prove it one way or the other!

 

[HGFarm]

Hot dog!! I was just asking about this the other day!! Is this just in time or what? How exciting is this?!!

Certainly a lot of break throughs on stuff the last couple of years.

 

[PaintNminis]

That is REALLY Excited about The Test! one Problem I can't get samples on my Boys' Sires or Dams

 

[Jill]

That is awesome!

 

[Mona]

Well it certainly is GREAT news, however, rather pricey! Hopefully one of the other testing places will also have it available soon at the lower(half) price.

 

[Lewella]

They have not actually located the dun gene - just markers and that's why they are asking for samples from the parents also. So basically when you use the test they are offering (rather prematurely) you are furthering their research and paying to do so.

Mona, UC Davis has become HORRIBLY slow about publishing thus making it impossible for other labs to offer the last couple of tests they have developed.

The Pearl test has been available for probably close to 2 years now (it is a DNA test - not a marker test like this new Dun test) and UC Davis still has not published so no other labs are able to offer the test.

 

[R3]

What is the Pearl test?

I'm always happy to hear about any test that helps us answer the question, "What color is my horse."

 

[Lewella]

Pearl is a dilution that is so far found in Andalusians, Gypsy Vanners, Gypsy Cobs, and APHA Paints. If UC Davis would get their research published more people would test and we'd be able to determine what other breeds have this dilution! When it was first discovered by Carolyn Shepard of the International Champagne Horse Registry it was called the "Barlink" dilution since it was first found in the descendants of the APHA stallion Barlink Macho Man. Pearl interacts with cream and creates psudo cremello to psudo champagne phenotypes.

The problem with marker tests like the old tobiano test and the new dun test is that they can't tell you 100% certain that your horse is that color and there are going to be more errors than with a DNA based test. Anyone who used the old blood test to have a tobiano tested knows they didn't get a report saying their horse was homozygous or heterozygous - they got a report saying there was a certain % chance that the horse was homozygous or heterozygous.

The new Dun test is being limited to non-Spanish descent breeds (no Andalusians, no Lusitanos, no Pervuians, no Paso Finos, etc.) presently because these markers don't work on these breeds. The chances of two genes causing the same phenotype is pretty remote which means that (just like the old maker test for tobiano) there are likely two sets of markers that can indicate dun using a marker test and that one isn't yet identified. As near as I have been able to find out minis were not used (Shetlands either but dun is very rare in American Shetlands) in the research so at this point there is no way of knowing if this dun marker test is going to work for minis.

Other tests like the Silver test and Sb1 test were not released until AFTER publication and peer review. The data had to hold up to scientific scrutiny before the public was allowed to use the test. With Pearl and Dun there has been no publication and thus no peer review.