Horse DNA Analysis - On Monday, researchers reported that using DNA analysis, scientists have discovered that by identifying genetic changes, it helped turn ancient horses like those in prehistoric era into winning horses and champions. And based on the study, horse domestication was first made 5,500 years ago.

Based on the horse DNA analysis study, researchers have found the DNA that make a winning and champion racehorse. According to The Daily Mail, scientists said the domestication and the development of the racehorse were all made possible by 125 genes. It produced desirable traits related to skeletal muscles, balance, coordination and cardiac strength.

Evolutionary geneticists have long been wishing to understand the genetic changes involved in equine domestication. They have been very eager to know horses' genetic makeup through DNA analysis because of the significant role of taming wild horses played in the development of civilization, ABC reported.

In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the traits that made horses domesticated was all made possible by 125 genes.

"These genes could have been the key for turning wild animals into more docile domesticated forms," Natural History Museum of Denmark geneticist Ludovic Orlando, who led the study, stated.

The horse DNA analysis that resulted to its domestication fundamentally revolutionized human civilization and societies. NBC News reported domesticated horses facilitated transportation in addition to the circulation of ideas, languages and religions. It also transformed warfare with the introduction of chariotry and mounted cavalry. And beyond the battlefield, horses notably stimulated agriculture.

The team of researchers led by Orlando had examined DNA from 29 horses discovered some genes in today's horses were absent altogether from the ancient ones, showing it emerged from recent mutations, which among them is a short-distance "speed gene."

The finding of the DNA analysis basis for horse domestication was long time coming because no wild descendants of ancient breeds survive. By matching domesticated species to their wild relatives, scientists figured out how organisms as different as rice, tomatoes and dogs became domesticated.

However, the DNA analysis study on the domestication of the horse and the subsequent intrusion of human civilization also resulted in the near extinction of wild horses. As an aftereffect of this huge loss of genetic diversity, the consequences of horse domestication through times have been difficult to decipher on a molecular level.