Odd animal proves laws of genetics not foalproof

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_6932475

Odd animal proves laws of genetics not foalproof
The "mosaic" baby of a mule mom and a dad believed be a donkey
"disproves" the science that dictates how parents pass along
hereditary characteristics.
By Nancy Lofholm
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 09/19/2007 12:45:37 AM MDT


Winterhawk's Kule Mule Amos, born on the Grand Mesa last spring to a
mule mother and a donkey believed to be his father, is a scientific
rarity called a "mosaic." He has cells containing 63 chromosomes and
other cells containing 64. (Special to The Post | Ed Kosmicki )
The one-in-a-million foal born to a mule on the Grand Mesa last spring
is the mixed-up result of a scrambled egg.
He's sort of a mule, but not exactly. Maybe a bit of "honkey" with a
smattering of "dule" - but most definitely a scientific rarity called
a "mosaic" that has researchers around the world eager to study the
frisky, big-eared creature.
Genetic tests have found that the foal, named Winterhawk's Kule Mule
Amos, has cells containing 63 chromosomes, as his mule mother has, and
other cells with 64 chromosomes, as the donkey believed to be his
father has.
"When we look at Amos' cells, it's very odd," said Lee Millon, the
research associate who unraveled Amos' genes in the veterinary
genetics lab at the University of California at Davis. "It's mind-
boggling that this could occur."
"It disproves Mendel's law of independent assortment," opined Dr.
Roger Valentine Short, a reproductive biology researcher at the
University of Melbourne in Australia. "This could make the front cover
of Science."
Mendel's law dictates how parents transmit hereditary characteristics
to offspring. But Amos broke that law - and others pertaining to
genetics - when he was born. He shouldn't exist because his mother,
Kate, a hybrid of a male donkey and a female horse, should be
infertile. An even number of chromosomes is needed to reproduce.
Amos turned up one morning peeking from under Kate in the corral at
the Winterhawk Outfitters spread, above Colbran and owned by Laura and
Larry Amos.
The stunned Amoses had genetic tests done to prove Kate is indeed a
mule and Amos truly is her now-200-pound baby.
A second round of testing at UC-Davis this summer showed the egg that
became Amos was an unexplained muddling of chromosomes that also
happened to a foal in China in 2004. In that case, the mother was a
hinny - the cross between a female donkey and a male horse.
"When we see something like this, it causes us to step back and take a
second look," said Dr. Gordon Woods, director of the equine
reproductive laboratory at Colorado State University. "This really
challenges the way we thought things were."
Woods, famous in equine circles for cloning a mule in his former
position at the University of Idaho, surmises there might be more
cases of mules giving birth if there were more attempts to breed them.
About 50 cases of mules giving birth have been reported worldwide, but
most of those were disproved or not scientifically documented. The
mother turned out to be only a mule look-alike or the foal was stolen
from another mother.
Only a handful have been proven through genetic testing, and most of
those did not have scrambled genes.
Laura Amos said she will probably send Amos and Kate to UC-Davis for
further examination, including fertility tests and deeper chromosome
sorting on Amos and endocrine tests on Kate. Researchers from
California, Australia and Eng land also hope to test genetic material
from the suspected father, an Arkansas donkey named Step-and-a-half.
For the time being, Amos frolics in a corral and seeks out all the
human attention he can get on a ranch with about 100 mules and horses.
"He has a different personality than any of the other animals in the
field," Laura Amos said. "He's really something."


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