In other species: ass (donkey) , horse , Przewalski's horse

Categories: Normal phene

Links to possible relevant human trait(s) and/or gene(s) in OMIM: 614754 (gene)

Mendelian trait/disorder: unknown

Considered a defect: no

Cross-species summary: All horses have three naturally occurring gaits, namely (in order of increasing speed) walk (four-beat, lateral), trot (two-beat, diagonal) and gallop (four-beat). Some breeds of horse exhibit more than one form of a particular gait, particularly at intermediate speeds. The alternate forms of intermediate-speed gait are classified as pace (a two-beat gait) or ambling (a four-beat gait), which can be regular (including the Tölt gait of Icelandic horses), lateral or diagonal. Some breeds are four-gaited (e.g. walk, tölt, trot and gallop) and others are five-gaited (e.g. walk, tölt, trot, gallop and pace). "Gaitedness" is the ability to exhibit alternate forms of gait. Gaited breeds included Icelandic horses, Kentucky mountain saddle horse, Missouri fox trotter, Paso fino, Peruvian paso, and Rocky mountain horse, Tennessee walking horse. Non-gaited breeds include Arabian horse, Gotland pony, North-Swedish draft horse, Przewalski’s horse, Shetland pony, Swedish ardennes, Swedish warmblood, and Thoroughbred. (Information taken from Andersson et al., 2012)
Renamed from 'Gaitedness' to 'Gaitedness, DMRT3-related' [10/06/2024]

Species-specific description: Herman et al. (2023) "aimed to determine if genotypes influenced gait type in 159 mules and 203 donkeys genotyped for the DMRT3 SNP by PCR-RFLP analysis. About 47% of mules had the CC-genotype, while 53% had the CA-genotype. Donkeys predominantly had the CC-genotype (97%), and none had AA. Both CC- and CA-genotypes were evenly distributed among mules with the batida or picada gaits. In donkeys, the CC-genotype frequencies were consistent regardless of gait type. However, the CA-genotype was more common in picada-gaited donkeys than in batida-gaited donkeys. ... Contrary to [the authors] expectations, the type of gait, picada or batida, was not influenced by the DMRT3 SNP in the mules or donkeys evaluated."