Ann T. Bowling
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Ann Trommershausen Bowling (June 1, 1943 – December 8, 2000) was an American scientist who was one of the world's leading
geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processes ...
s in the study of
horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...
s, conducting research in the areas of
molecular genetics Molecular genetics is a sub-field of biology that addresses how differences in the structures or expression of DNA molecules manifests as variation among organisms. Molecular genetics often applies an "investigative approach" to determine the ...
and
cytogenetics Cytogenetics is essentially a branch of genetics, but is also a part of cell biology/cytology (a subdivision of human anatomy), that is concerned with how the chromosomes relate to cell behaviour, particularly to their behaviour during mitosis an ...
. She was a major figure in the development of testing to determine animal parentage, first with
blood typing Blood compatibility testing is conducted in a medical laboratory to identify potential incompatibilities between blood group systems in blood transfusion. It is also used to diagnose and prevent some complications of pregnancy that can occur whe ...
in the 1980s and then
DNA testing Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, o ...
in the 1990s. She later became known for her studies of
hereditary disease A genetic disorder is a health problem caused by one or more abnormalities in the genome. It can be caused by a mutation in a single gene (monogenic) or multiple genes (polygenic) or by a chromosomal abnormality. Although polygenic disorders ...
s in horses and
equine coat color genetics Equine coat color genetics determine a horse's coat color. Many colors are possible, but all variations are produced by changes in only a few genes. The "base" colors of the horse are determined by the Extension locus, which in recessive form (e ...
, as well as research on
horse evolution The evolution of the horse, a mammal of the family Equidae, occurred over a geologic time scale of 50 million years, transforming the small, dog-sized, forest-dwelling ''Eohippus'' into the modern horse. Paleozoologists have been able to piece ...
and the development of
horse breeds This article is a list of horse and pony breeds with articles on Wikipedia, and also includes terms for types of horse that are not necessarily standardized breeds but are often labeled as breeds. While there is no scientifically accepted defin ...
. She studied the population genetics of
feral horse A feral horse is a free-roaming horse of domesticated stock. As such, a feral horse is not a wild animal in the sense of an animal without domesticated ancestors. However, some populations of feral horses are managed as wildlife, and these ...
s, did considerable work to help preserve the
Przewalski's horse Przewalski's horse (, , (Пржевальский ), ) (''Equus ferus przewalskii'' or ''Equus przewalskii''), also called the takhi, Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse, is a rare and endangered horse originally native to the steppes of ...
, and was one of the founding members of the international project to map the
horse genome The horse genome was first sequenced in 2006. The Horse Genome Project mapped 2.7 billion DNA base pairs, and released the full map in 2009. The horse genome is larger than the dog genome, but smaller than the human genome or the bovine genome. ...
. She was an adjunct professor at the
University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...
(UCD), and at the time of her death in 2000 was the executive associate director of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory (VGL) there. Her unexpected death on December 8, 2000, at age 57 was attributed to a massive stroke.


Early life and career

Ann Bowling (''née'' Trommershausen) was born June 1, 1943, in
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
, to Claire Bowen and William Ernest Trommershausen, who worked for the
Bonneville Power Administration The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is an American federal agency operating in the Pacific Northwest. BPA was created by an act of Congress in 1937 to market electric power from the Bonneville Dam located on the Columbia River and to cons ...
. After the Trommershausens moved to Boulder, Colorado, Ann attended Boulder High School and was class valedictorian. She obtained her undergraduate degree at Carleton College in Minnesota, graduating '' magna cum laude''. She earned her PhD in 1969 at the
University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...
, completing her
thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
on the genetics of plants under the supervision of G. Ledyard Stebbins. She joined the faculty of Occidental College in Los Angeles in 1968, then was hired by UC Davis in 1973, and at the time of her death in 2000 was an adjunct professor and executive associate director of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory (VGL) at UC Davis. She married Michael Bowling in 1981. Both members of the couple shared a strong interest in genetics; prior to their marriage, Ann used Michael's
stud book A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry and the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders ...
research in her own 1980 study of genetic diseases. Michael Bowling wrote a number of articles on Arabian horse genetics for general-interest publications, and the pair collaborated on a study of
mtDNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA ...
in Arabian bloodlines. Their daughter Lydia attended veterinary school and UC Davis and became a veterinarian.


Animal parentage identification

Bowling developed some of the first blood typing and DNA parentage tests for horses, and became a genetics consultant to several horse breed registries, including
The Jockey Club The Jockey Club is the breed registry for Thoroughbred horses in the United States and Canada. It is dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing and fulfills that mandate by serving many segments of the industry through its s ...
,
Arabian Horse Association The Arabian Horse Association (AHA) is the single national organization that is the only breed registry that registers Arabian horses in the United States. It also works with the United States Equestrian Federation to sanction horse shows and l ...
(originally Arabian Horse Registry of America), American Quarter Horse Association, and the
American Morgan Horse Association The American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA) is the largest equine registry dedicated to the Morgan horse. It was located in Shelburne, Vermont until 2019 when it relocated to Lexington, Kentucky. The AMHA was founded in 1909. History The Amer ...
. Beginning in 1976, she published research on animal blood types, and developed tests using blood type to establish parentage. She advocated for adopting blood typing for parentage verification of registered animals. Numerous breed registries did so. In the course of this research, she also studied the phenomenon of
chimerism A genetic chimerism or chimera ( ) is a single organism composed of cells with more than one distinct genotype. In animals, this means an individual derived from two or more zygotes, which can include possessing blood cells of different blood ...
, which sometimes created inconsistent results in parentage testing. By the late 1990s, as the science of parentage testing evolved, she researched the effectiveness of DNA typing and concluded that it was as effective as blood typing for verifying parentage. Her lab pioneered the DNA-based parentage verification of horses and
camelids Camelids are members of the biological family Camelidae, the only currently living family in the suborder Tylopoda. The seven extant members of this group are: dromedary camels, Bactrian camels, wild Bactrian camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, ...
—species for which Bowling herself had conducted research—using microsatellites as
biomarkers In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, pa ...
. This testing program also expanded to include eight other types of mammals. Bowling applied her work on identifying parentage to help preserve the genetic diversity of the
Przewalski's horse Przewalski's horse (, , (Пржевальский ), ) (''Equus ferus przewalskii'' or ''Equus przewalskii''), also called the takhi, Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse, is a rare and endangered horse originally native to the steppes of ...
. Among other work, she reconstructed the herd book of the captive Askania Nova herd in Ukraine using parentage testing data. She studied the genetics of
Mustangs The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, they ...
in the Great Basin and located genetic markers linking them to other
domesticated Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which humans assume a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of another group of organisms to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that group. A ...
horse breeds. She also performed research on the blood types of the
Paso Fino The Paso Fino is a naturally gaited light horse breed dating back to horses imported to the Caribbean from Spain. Pasos are prized for their smooth, natural, four-beat, lateral ambling gait; they are used in many disciplines, but are especially ...
breed. Some of the more unusual work the VGL performed was a 1996 investigation by Scotland Yard, which sought help from the lab to identify the source of a blood sample associated with a murder. The lab identified the sample as being from a dog that was at the crime scene, and this information helped crack the case by leading investigators to a suspect who was the owner of the dog. Bowling was the director of the laboratory at the time, and as a result of this work, expanded the lab's scope so it could continue to help identify animals present at crime scenes and those animals which themselves were victims of crimes such as theft or
animal abuse Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse, animal neglect or animal cruelty, is the infliction by omission (neglect) or by commission by humans of suffering or harm upon non-human animals. More narrowly, it can be the causing of harm or suf ...
. From this beginning, the VGL also later helped create a national canine database used to prosecute cases of
dogfighting A dogfight, or dog fight, is an aerial battle between fighter aircraft conducted at close range. Dogfighting first occurred in Mexico in 1913, shortly after the invention of the airplane. Until at least 1992, it was a component in every majo ...
. Bowling also published articles on parentage in mules, including a case where she proved the rare occurrence of a fertile mule
mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than fo ...
by parentage testing.


Genetic disease and equine coat color research

From very early in her career, Bowling wrote about educating horse breeders on genetic diseases in purebred animals and how to deal with these conditions. She performed a number of studies on the Arabian horse breed, including research into one of the genetic diseases that affects Arabians, cerebellar abiotrophy (CA). In 1985, she created a breeding herd at UCD of horses known to carry CA, and this small group provided preliminary DNA data for researchers. Bowling's own studies of CA were unpublished at the time of her death, but she is credited with demonstrating that the condition had a
recessive In genetics, dominance is the phenomenon of one variant (allele) of a gene on a chromosome masking or overriding the effect of a different variant of the same gene on the other copy of the chromosome. The first variant is termed dominant and t ...
mode of genetic inheritance and was likely the result of a single mutated
allele An allele (, ; ; modern formation from Greek ἄλλος ''állos'', "other") is a variation of the same sequence of nucleotides at the same place on a long DNA molecule, as described in leading textbooks on genetics and evolution. ::"The chro ...
. A
DNA marker A genetic marker is a gene or DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify individuals or species. It can be described as a variation (which may arise due to mutation or alteration in the genomic loci) that can be ...
test for the condition was developed by her successors at UCD, which became available to the public in 2008. In 2011, the causative
mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA replication, DNA or viral repl ...
for cerebellar abiotrophy was identified, and the condition was conclusively established as an
autosomal An autosome is any chromosome that is not a sex chromosome. The members of an autosome pair in a diploid cell have the same morphology, unlike those in allosomal (sex chromosome) pairs, which may have different structures. The DNA in autosom ...
recessive. Bowling also studied genetic conditions in other horse breeds, including
hyperkalemic periodic paralysis Hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HYPP, HyperKPP) is an inherited autosomal dominant disorder that affects sodium channels in muscle cells and the ability to regulate potassium levels in the blood. It is characterized by muscle hyperexcitability ...
(HYPP) in the American Quarter Horse. In 1996, her research found that the origin of this genetically dominant disorder traced to a single stallion, later identified publicly as Impressive. Bowling's study of equine coat color genetics originally coincided with her studies of animal parentage. Research related to equine coat colors dovetailed with genetic disease research when she studied
overo Overo refers to several genetically unrelated pinto coloration patterns of white-over-dark body markings in horses, and is a term used by the American Paint Horse Association to classify a set of pinto patterns that are not tobiano. ''Overo'' is ...
spotting patterns seen in
Paint horse The American Paint Horse is a breed of horse that combines both the conformational characteristics of a western stock horse with a pinto spotting pattern of white and dark coat colors. Developed from a base of spotted horses with Quarter Hors ...
s. She was part of a research team that studied
lethal white syndrome Lethal white syndrome (LWS), also called overo lethal white syndrome (OLWS), lethal white overo (LWO), and overo lethal white foal syndrome (OLWFS), is an autosomal genetic disorder most prevalent in the American Paint Horse. Affected foals are bo ...
(LWS), a fatal condition in newborn foals. She had authored an early study in 1977 that ruled out neonatal isoerythrolysis as a cause of death. In 1983, the team linked LWS to a coat color spotting pattern, later identified as frame overo, which is seen in the
American Paint Horse The American Paint Horse is a breed of horse that combines both the conformational characteristics of a western stock horse with a pinto spotting pattern of white and dark coat colors. Developed from a base of spotted horses with Quarter Hors ...
and related breeds. In 1997 Bowling was one of three researchers to identify the gene responsible for LWS, and in the process identified the condition as the equine version of
Hirschsprung disease Hirschsprung's disease (HD or HSCR) is a birth defect in which nerves are missing from parts of the intestine. The most prominent symptom is constipation. Other symptoms may include vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea and slow growth. Symptoms ...
. While researching lethal white syndrome, Bowling also studied the phenomenon of
cropout A cropout, crop-out or crop out is a horse with body spots, including pinto or leopard complex spotting, or "high white" horse markings, with a sire and dam who both appeared to have been solid-colored. There are several variations in the defini ...
s; spotted offspring born from two minimally-
marked In linguistics and social sciences, markedness is the state of standing out as nontypical or divergent as opposed to regular or common. In a marked–unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one. The dominant defau ...
parents. She also worked with the team that mapped the
cream gene The cream gene is responsible for a number of horse coat colors. Horses that have the cream gene in addition to a base coat color that is chestnut will become palomino if they are heterozygous, having one copy of the cream gene, or cremello, if ...
, which is a dilution gene with no deleterious effects, though a misconception exists that cream colors might be linked to lethal white syndrome. In addition to her work on deleterious mutations associated with horse genetics, Bowling studied genetic disorders in the
Australian shepherd The Australian Shepherd is a breed of herding dog from the United States. The name of the breed is technically a misnomer, as it was developed in California in the 19th century; the breed was unknown in Australia at the time. It is claimed that A ...
dog that appeared to be linked to the merle coat color.


Horse genome project

In the 1990s, Bowling was one of the leaders in the horse genome project. This work was also important to human medicine, as there are at least 90 genetic conditions that can affect both humans and horses. The horse genome was first sequenced in 2006, and was fully mapped by 2009.


Horse breeding

Bowling owned Arabian horses, and was a co-founder of the New Albion Stud along with her husband Michael and her parents, Bill and Claire Trommershausen. Ann and her parents had owned half-Arabians when they lived in Colorado; Michael Bowling had owned Arabians since 1962. They started the farm in September 1980, about the same time that Ann and Michael married, and placed an emphasis on bloodlines descended from the
Crabbet Arabian Stud The Crabbet Arabian Stud, also known as the Crabbet Park Stud, was an English horse breeding farm that ran from 1878 to 1972. Its founder owners, husband and wife team Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt, decided while travelling in the Mi ...
. The farm continued to be operated by her husband and daughter after Bowling's death. Bowling's study of mitochondrial DNA in Arabians found that pedigree records kept by the American registry for Arabian horses were generally reliable from the time of importation forward. But her work also brought into question a belief commonly held by Arabian breeders that horses imported from the desert identified by specific historic dam lines or "strains" in their pedigrees actually traced to specific matrilineal groups. Bowling also found that some mare lines claimed to originate from the same desert-bred "strain" were not related at all, and some mares whose pedigrees claimed they were of different strains turned out to be distantly related.


Publications

Bowling was the author or coauthor of two books and 93 scientific journal articles, including: Books * * Journals * * * * * * * * *


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowling, Ann T. 1943 births 2000 deaths Arabian and part-Arabian horses American geneticists American women geneticists University of California, Davis alumni University of California, Davis faculty Scientists from Portland, Oregon Carleton College alumni Occidental College faculty Scientists from Colorado 20th-century American biologists 20th-century American women scientists