W259 Cribbing: a compulsive behavior and its genetic component

Date: Saturday, January 14, 2012
Time: 3:50 PM
Room: Royal Palm Salon 5-6
Bianca Haase , University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Danika Bannasch , University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
Hannes Lohi , University of Helsinki, Finland
Jim Mickelson , University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN
Elinor Karlsson , Harvard University & Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA
Karin Hemman , University of Helsinki, Finland
Jeannine M. Berger , University of California, Davis, CA
Marja Raekallio , University of Helsinki, Finland
Gabriela Obexer-Ruff , University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Megan Kruft , University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
Outi Vainio , University of Helsinki, Finland
Amy Young , University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
Dominik Burger , Agroscope Liebefeld-Posieux Research Station ALP, Swiss National Stud Farm, Switzerland
Iris Bachmann Rieder , Agroscope Liebefeld-Posieux Research Station ALP, Swiss National Stud Farm, Switzerland
Tosso Leeb , University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Stefan Rieder , Agroscope Liebefeld-Posieux Research Station ALP, Swiss National Stud Farm, Switzerland
Claire Wade , University of Sydney, Sydney NSW, Australia
Cribbing or crib-biting in horses has been described as a stereotypic erratic behavior. It is generally believed that cribbing develops as a means to cope with stress or is learnt from other horses. Owners often find this behavior disturbing and it has been suggested to be a risk factor for specific types of colic and gastric ulcers. Besides well documented environmental factors, there is evidence that the genetic background also plays an important role in the development of the behavioral vice. Several studies have indicated the influence of heritable factors on cribbing to be higher than for any other repetitive behavior in the horse. We applied a whole-genome SNP association mapping approach using a total of 162 horses, representing three different breeds. The horse DNA samples were genotyped with the equine Illumina 50k SNP genotyping microarray. Genotyping results were analyzed within and across breeds. Several independent loci, albeit usually not significant at a genome-wide level, were identified for each of the breeds. Interestingly, in two of the breeds, one common locus with genome wide significance was identified and confirmed with fine structure mapping. This region contains a candidate gene involved in cell-cell adhesion and differentiation of the nervous system that is probably linked to the development of obsessive-compulsive behavior in dogs.