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Horse

Frame Overo

Gene

Frame overo (O) is a white spotting variant of EDNRB on chromosome 17 that gives white patches on the belly, neck and face, framed by color. One copy shows the pattern, though some carriers look solid. Two copies (O/O) cause lethal white overo: the foal is born white with a gut that cannot work and dies within days, so carriers are tested before breeding.

How Frame Overo works

One copy shows Frame Overo.

The coat pattern behaves as dominant (one copy shows it); lethal white overo needs two copies.

Class
Incomplete dominant
One copy
Frame overo carrier (one O copy)
Two copies
O/O (lethal white overo)
Symbol
O

Known risk · Survival

Two frame overo copies (O/O) cause lethal white overo: the foal is born white with intestinal aganglionosis and dies within days.

Unconfirmed risk · Health

Deafness has been reported in some white-patterned horses carrying frame overo, most of which also had splashed white patterns; frame overo itself has not been shown to cause it.

DNA testing

Breeding stock is tested whatever its color, because some carriers look solid. Two carriers bred together have a one in four chance of a lethal white foal at each conception.

Sources

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Quick facts

Guides & articles
30

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Guides & articles

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