根據(jù)2012年1月24日發(fā)表在《自然-通訊》期刊上的一篇研究論文,，與今天的純種賽馬速度相關聯(lián)的一個基因能夠被追溯到大約300百年前生活的一種英國母馬(British mare)。

這種基因,，是很多物種中涉及肌肉質量發(fā)育的肌肉生長抑制素(myostatin)的變異體,，而且還顯示它能被用來預測馬的速度和耐力。比如,，兩份C型變異體(C-type variant)拷貝可能導致馬在短程比賽中奔跑得比較快,，因而對于現(xiàn)在常見的短程沖刺賽(sprint race)而言是比較理想的。其他的T型變異體更加適合于耐力,，允許馬在長程比賽中奔跑得更快,。

研究人員研究了593匹死著和活著的馬的遺傳和譜系，最終追蹤C型變異體到單匹母馬上,。盡管在十八世紀和十九世紀,，攜帶C型變異體的馬仍然比較罕見，但是通過培育兩種知名的父子馬Nearctic和Northern Dancer,，在二十世紀五十,、六十和七十年代它們被廣泛繁殖。(生物谷：towersimper編譯)

doi:10.1038/ncomms1644
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PMID:
The genetic origin and history of speed in the Thoroughbred racehorse

Mim A. Bower, Beatrice A. McGivney, Michael G. Campana, Jingjing Gu, Lisa S. Andersson, Elizabeth Barrett, Catherine R. Davis, Sofia Mikko, Frauke Stock, Valery Voronkova, Daniel G. Bradley, Alan G. Fahey, Gabriella Lindgren, David E. MacHugh, Galina Sulimova & Emmeline W. Hill

Selective breeding for speed in the racehorse has resulted in an unusually high frequency of the C-variant (g.66493737C/T) at the myostatin gene (MSTN) in cohorts of the Thoroughbred horse population that are best suited to sprint racing. Here we show using a combination of molecular- and pedigree-based approaches in 593 horses from 22 Eurasian and North-American horse populations, museum specimens from 12 historically important Thoroughbred stallions (b.1764–1930), 330 elite-performing modern Thoroughbreds and 42 samples from three other equid species that the T-allele was ancestral and there was a single introduction of the C-allele at the foundation stages of the Thoroughbred from a British-native mare. Furthermore, we show that although the C-allele was rare among the celebrated racehorses of the 18th and 19th centuries, it has proliferated recently in the population via the stallion Nearctic (b.1954), the sire of the most influential stallion of modern time, Northern Dancer (b.1961).