Prenatal fetal sex determination in horse by using cell free fetal DNA in pregnant mare

Fetal sex determination in domestic animals has different research and commercial applications, especially in livestock industry. This technique has important economic value for horse breeders, especially in sales programs. Depending on the mare or stallion, the foal economic value is completely different and depends on its sex. The purpose of this study was identification of prenatal fetal sex using circulating cell free fetal DNA (ccffDNA) in mare during gestation by TSPY gene. The Real Time PCR technique was used by specific primers. Statistical Society contained 30 pregnant mares with 2-11 month of pregnancy. One stallion and one mare was selected as positive and negative control. For DNA extraction, we used the phenol-chloroform extraction method. Eighteen foals were male and twelve were male after parturition. In conclusion, our predicted fetal sex had the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 75%, 100% and 95%. Our results showed that the TSPY gene could be used for prenatal fetal sex determination by ccffDNA with high accuracy