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[Susieque]

I have recently been reading about Akhal-Teke's and their very interesting history. I am interested to know if anyone has firm data on why their coats have the sheen that they do? The coats really are different, and most studies just state that the coats may have evolved differently because they came to glow similarly to the high desert steppe surroundings from which they came. Does anyone have any other more "scientific" explanations for this unusual "glowing" coat sheen? They are truly striking!
Thanks,
Susieque

[debjaret]

Hi Susieque.  What I have read about the Akhal Teke coat sheen, is very interesting.   They showed hair shafts from 3 different breeds - the Arabian, which is Oriental, as the Akhal Teke's are, a Thoroughbred, and a Teke.   The Arabian, and Thorougbred have solid hair shafts.   The Akhal Teke has a transparent one, so when the sun is shining on the coat, the sun rays are absorbed and reflected.  Pretty cool huh?   That is the only breed of horse that has a transparent hair shaft.   Deb Johnson

[Susieque]

That is just amazing, the ONLY horse to have a transparent hair shaft? One wonders how that happened "just because" they evolved in the Steppes of Mongolia?  That would make the hair and/or the skin, more, not less, vulnerable to damage from the sun, correct? And also, how does the transparency of the shaft fit in with how most of the Teke colors are in the lighter range as well? Do the bay colored Teke's also have transparent shafts or just the lighter colored ones? Very interesting. I wonder if UC Davis has any studies on Teke's? I'll do a bit of checking and see what I can find. Thanks! Susieque

[Amber]

Hello,

Quite a few kinds of animals have a satin gene that gives a brilliance or glow to the coat.  All that I know of are due to the structure of the hair shaft itself, generally being transparent as was noted with the Akhal-Teke horse.

The satin gene in most animals is a recessive, but in the syrian hamster it is inherited as a semi dominant.  Heterozygous animals are satin and those individuals that inherit a double dose of satin have a very sparse coat or are bald.

I am not aware of any studies on the sheen of the Akhal-teke, so this is PURE SPECULATION  on my part, but it would seem that this sheen is inherited as a semi dominant in the Akhal-Teke also.  In crosses with other breeds, such as in the Nez Perse horse, that sheen is often noted in the off spring, something that would not happen if the gene were inherited as a simple recessive.  I am also aware that there are Akhal Teke with very sparse coats and that hairless foals are born.  This would also fit with the semi dominant mode of inheritance.

As to the Akhal-Teke being the only breed with this "satin" gene, I'm not so sure.....   The Don and Buddony breeds are both described occasionally to have a golden sheen.  Being Russian breeds they probably have Akhal-Teke in their genetic origins.  The gene may not be in as high a frequency in these breeds, but it sounds like it's there.