Digital Phenotyping Reveals Phenotype Diversity and Epistasis among White Spotting Alleles in the American Paint Horse

White spotting is an iconic feature of the American Paint Horse. The American Paint Horse Association (APHA) is dedicated to recording pedigree and performance of this stock-type breed, while preserving its distinctive coat color and conformation. Here, the depigmented proportion of the coat (% white coat) was measured using digital photograph analysis of 1195 registered American Paint Horses. Genotypes for nine white-spotting polymorphisms commonly found in Paint Horses, and two pigment-producing loci MCIR and ASIP genes, were also provided by the APHA. White-coat percent significantly increased in horses with more white-spotting alleles present, regardless of the number of loci bearing those alleles, likely due to a strong additive genetic effect at each white-spotting locus, as well as an additive epistatic effect among white spotting loci. Paint Horses with a chestnut base coat color (genotype e/e at MC1R) possessed a significantly higher white coat percentage, suggesting confirming an epistatic interaction between pigmentation signaling genes and loci for white spotting. The APHA registry categories of Regular versus Solid Paint-Bred also differed in their median white coat percentage (p < 0.0001), but not in the overall ranges of this phenotype, reenforcing the importance of the regional patterns of the depigmentation in the definition of the desired APHA phenotype. Multi-locus phenotype prediction models for white-coat percentage performed only moderately well, and improvements in the sample size and the number of loci genotyped will likely be needed before such an approach could be used practically by APHA breeders. In the future, models that enable phenotype prediction based on genotypes, and automated phenotype assessment could increase the production of valuable visual traits in the American Paint Horse population and improve the APHA member experience during the registration process.

Automated summary

This study examined the relationship between white-spotting percentage and genotypes in American Paint Horses using digital photograph analysis. The results showed that the number of white-spotting alleles is positively correlated with white-coat percentage, with chestnut-based Paint Horses having a higher percentage. The study also found differences in white-coat percentage among different registry categories of the American Paint Horse Association.