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Homozygous: What does it mean?
It has been established through extensive testing that the tobiano gene is dominant over all non-tobiano genes. Therefore, if the tobiano gene is contributed by either the sire or the dam, it will always be visibly expressed by producing the tobiano coat pattern on the foal. A homozygous horse is one that has two tobiano parents, with each of those parents having contributed a tobiano gene to the offspring. Therefore, when breeding this 'homozygous' horse, it will always contribute a tobiano gene, because it has 'only' tobiano genes to give. As previously stated, tobiano genes are dominant over any other, therefore a tobiano coat pattern will always result. A series of blood tests can be used to identify the markers connected to these genes, thereby establishing whether or not the horse in question is homozygous.
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