Publications by authors named "Rachel A Ang"
Domestic animal populations are often characterised by high rates of inbreeding and low effective population sizes due to selective breeding practices. These practices can result in otherwise rare recessive deleterious alleles drifting to high frequencies, resulting in reduced fertility rates. This study aimed to identify potential recessive lethal haplotypes in the Thoroughbred horse breed, a closed population that has been selectively bred for racing performance.
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- The Thoroughbred horse, established in the 1700s, has significant cultural and economic importance, and its extensive breeding history allows for analysis of genetic consequences over time.
- A study of over 135,000 Thoroughbreds reveals that selective breeding hasn’t effectively reduced genetic problems, but some evidence suggests racing performance has improved due to certain breeding practices.
- The majority of inbreeding in today's Thoroughbreds comes from a few founding ancestors, and understanding the impacts of this inbreeding is crucial for enhancing the overall quality of the population, with implications for both domestic and endangered breeds.