Animal Genetics Laboratory
Texas A&M University Veterinary Medicine
& Biomedical Sciences
Texas A&M University
Animal Genetics Lab

Forms

Submitting Samples

  • We accept hair, blood, and semen samples.
  • For hair samples, there must be at least 30-60 hairs with attached bulbs. This means the hair samples must be pulled, not cut.
  • If you have trouble pulling a good hair sample, there are many videos and pictures (below) for references.
multiple images of good hair samples pulled from the root with the follicles in tact

Important Notes:

1. We DO NOT offer ancestry testing for dogs, cats, or any other species — just horses.
2. The Molecular Cytogenetics Laboratory offers karyotyping analysis for a variety of animals such as cattle, horses, goats, pigs, dogs, cats, and exotic species.

Submission Forms

Please fill out the appropriate submission form with as much information as possible. If you are unsure of information, please leave the section blank.

  1. Horse Ancestry Form (PDF)
  2. Horse Color Form (PDF)
  3. Horse DNA Typing Form (PDF) (NOT Ancestry/Breed)
  4. Foal Immunodeficiency Syndrome (FIS)/Disease Form (PDF)
  5. Cattle Form (PDF)
  6. White Dexter Form (PDF)
  7. White Park Form (PDF)
  8. Karyotyping Form (PDF) (via Molecular Cytogenetics Lab)

Interpreting Reports

The following charts will help you interpret cattle testing and/or equine disease, color, or ancestry testing reports from our lab.

multiple types of reports and charts used to interpret them from the lab

Information about Genotyping

For cattle genotyping, horse genotyping, and horse ancestry testing you will receive a general report which shows the microsatellite markers for the individual. This is a unique, genetic finger print that can be used for identification.

  • In cattle, each individual has two microsatellite numbers. One comes from the sire and the other comes from the dam. This is how we verify parents. The numbers (Ex: 202/208) represent the molecular weight of the DNA fragments and the markers (INRA23) typically represent the laboratory that described the markers.
  • In equine ancestry, instead of numbers the microsatellites are represented by a letter. The basic principles are exactly the same, only the letter is a part of a code which represents the particular fragment of DNA.

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