Mystery about cause of genetic disease in horses

Research team led by Göttingen University questions link to warmblood fragile foal syndrome. Warmblood fragile foal syndrome is a severe, usually fatal, genetic disease that manifests itself after birth in affected horses. Due to the defect, the connective tissue is unstable. Under force, for instance, the skin tears from the tissue underneath and the joints can suffer dislocation. A research team from the Universities of Göttingen and Halle has now been able to prove that the disease did not stem from the English thoroughbred stallion Dark Ronald XX, which had been the assumption until now. The results have been published in the journal Animal Genetics. The mystery of the genetic defect could have been solved in 2012: this is when gene responsible was identified.