Blood Protein Polymorphism in the Mogod Pony in Tunisia

Abstract

The Mogod pony is native of Northwest Tunisia. Its physical characteristics make him well adapted for mountain use. Since the beginning of the 20th century, its number has greatly decreased. To reverse this trend, the breed will have to be better characterized, in particular from the genetic angle, as this might help search into possible relationships between the pony and horse breeds in the area. Electrophoretic systems of albumin (Al), group specific component (Gc), postalbumin (Xk), esterase (Es), transferrin (Tf) and protease inhibitor (Pi) were studied in 47 Mogod ponies by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Allelic frequencies of the six systems were as follows: Al^A : 0,36 ; Al^B : 0,64 ; Gc^F : 1,00 ; Xk^K : 1,00 ; Es^I : 0,64 ; Es^G : 0,18 ; Es^F : 0,17 ; Es^S : 0,01 ; Tf^D : 0,41 ; Tf^F2 : 0,31 ; Tf^H : 0,12 ; Pi^L : 0,35 ; Pi^U : 0,22 ; Pi^R ; Pi^S : 0,09. The blood protein polymorphism of the Mogod pony was compared with that of thoroughbred Arabian horses, Barb horses and Arab-Barb horses based on bibliographic data.