Champagne Dilution Test
Reads the SLC36A1 variant c.188C>G behind the Champagne dilution, which lightens both red and black pigment and therefore changes every...
€43.05 Incl. VAT
About
This test shows whether your horse carries Champagne, a coat colour dilution, and whether it has one copy or two.
It is useful for any horse whose dilute colour is uncertain and for breeders who want champagne foals.
Why test?
Telling Champagne from Cream. The two are inherited differently: Cream gives double dilutes with two copies, Champagne does not. Knowing which one your horse has changes the mating plan.
Telling one copy from two. Only the DNA test shows whether a champagne horse passes it to half of its foals or to all of them.
Registration and sale. Several registries record Champagne status, and a stallion with two copies is worth more. The result is objective information you can show a buyer.
Clinical signs
Champagne lightens red and black pigment alike, so it changes every base colour. One copy and two copies look the same. Champagne horses range from gold to dark tan and tend to have amber eyes. With no copy, the base colour shows as it is.
- A black base becomes classic champagne
- A chestnut base becomes gold champagne
- A bay base becomes amber champagne
What fools the eye:
- Gold champagne read as palomino, and amber champagne read as buckskin
- Pearl, which also lightens the coat and the eye
- A horse carrying both Champagne and Cream, in which the two lightenings add together
- Grey, which slowly strips any of these colours away
Health. No disease is linked to Champagne.
Transmission
Champagne is dominant. One copy is enough to lighten the coat. The gene is not on a sex chromosome, so colts and fillies are the same.
What each mating can produce:
- N/N x N/N gives 100% N/N
- N/N x N/Ch gives 50% N/N, 50% N/Ch
- N/N x Ch/Ch gives 100% N/Ch
- N/Ch x N/Ch gives 25% N/N, 50% N/Ch, 25% Ch/Ch
- N/Ch x Ch/Ch gives 50% N/Ch, 50% Ch/Ch
- Ch/Ch x Ch/Ch gives 100% Ch/Ch
Prevention
The result lets you plan for champagne foals.
To guarantee a champagne foal. Use a parent with two copies.
To keep champagne out. Use two partners that tested negative. Because one copy always shows, a horse that is not lightened by Champagne does not carry it.
Results
N/N: negative. No Champagne copy. Cannot pass it on.
N/Ch: one copy, champagne. Passes Champagne to about half of its foals.
Ch/Ch: two copies, champagne. Passes Champagne to every foal.
Naming the exact colour (classic, gold or amber) needs the Extension and Agouti results as well.
Sample
Hair roots: 20 to 40 hairs pulled (not cut) from the mane or tail, with the roots attached. Tape them inside the marked area of the printable sample submission form. Hairs without roots cannot be analysed.
Blood: 5 mL of whole blood in a K3-EDTA tube, collected by a veterinarian. Label the tube with the horse's name and send it with the submission form.
One sample is enough if Champagne is ordered together with Cream.
Keep samples dry and at room temperature, and do not freeze them. Do not send hair that is wet, mouldy or soiled with bedding or faeces.
Send your sample by regular mail or express delivery to:
Equigerminal Lab HIESE
Rua da Quinta do Sobreiro Nº25
3230-343 Penela, Portugal
Turnaround
Standard processing: results within 5 to 10 working days of the sample arriving at the laboratory. Shipping is arranged and paid for by the client, and transit time is not included in the 5 to 10 working days.
Samples that fail DNA extraction or amplification are repeated at no extra cost, which may add a few working days. We contact you if a new sample is required.
How it works
🛒 Purchase the test: select and buy the test online.
📧 Receive instructions: after payment confirmation you receive sample collection instructions by e-mail.
✨ Collect the sample yourself: pull 20 to 40 hair roots with the bulb attached, or ask your veterinarian to collect blood in a K3-EDTA tube.
📄 Complete the form: print and complete the submission form with the animal identification.
📮 Send it to the laboratory: Equigerminal, S.A., HIESE, Rua da Quinta do Sobreiro, 25, Quinta Vale do Espinhal, 3230-343 Penela, PORTUGAL.
📄 Receive your report: your certified report is issued as soon as the analysis is validated.
FAQs
What does this test not detect?
It does not test Cream, Pearl, Silver, Dun, Grey, Mushroom, the base colour or any white pattern. It says nothing about health, performance or temperament.
At what age can a horse be tested?
Any age. The genotype is fixed at conception and never changes.
For Professionals
Genetic and clinical detail for veterinarians, geneticists and laboratories.
- Gene / locus: SLC36A1 (solute carrier family 36 member 1), Champagne (CH) locus, ECA14.
- Variant: c.188C>G, missense in exon 2. HGVS (EquCab3.0): NC_009157.3:g.26012449G>C; XM_023617382.1:c.188C>G; XP_023473150.1:p.(Thr63Arg).
- Alternative designations: genomic G>C and cDNA C>G are the same change on opposite strands. Laboratory allele symbol: Ch.
- Variant identifiers: rs5334475190 (EVA); OMIA variant 152.
- Variant classification: not currently evaluated (ISAG/AVCG, per OMIA).
- Gene function and discovery: SLC36A1 encodes an amino acid transporter. Cook et al. (2008) mapped the trait in the families of three stallions to a region of ECA14, screened genes expressed in skin and found a single change. Champagne was the first trait linked to SLC36A1 in any species.
- Inheritance: autosomal dominant (OMIA code D); N/Ch and Ch/Ch are phenotypically indistinguishable.
- Penetrance / expressivity: complete concordance in the discovery study: present in all 85 champagne horses and absent in all 97 non-champagne horses (Cook et al., 2008).
- Breeds with documented carriers or cases: documented in American Cream Draft, American Miniature Horse, American Paint Horse, American Saddlebred, Appaloosa, Missouri Fox Trotting Horse, Quarter Horse, Tennessee Walking Horse and Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse; first identified in Tennessee Walking Horse families. Detected in eight of 28 breeds surveyed: Missouri Fox Trotter, Rocky Mountain Horse, Miniature Horse, Gypsy Cob, Quarter Horse, Tennessee Walking Horse, Paint Horse, Shetland Pony (Avila et al., 2022), the Rocky Mountain Horse being a first report. Not detected in that study in Andalusian, Appaloosa, Arabian, Connemara Pony, Dutch Warmblood, Gypsy Vanner, Hanoverian, Icelandic Horse, Knabstrupper, Lusitano, Morgan Horse, Mustang, Norwegian Fjord Horse, Oldenburg, Percheron, Pony of the Americas, Pura Raza Espanola, Standardbred, Thoroughbred or Welsh Pony; absence in a sample does not prove absence in the breed.
- Allele / carrier frequencies: allele frequency (Avila et al., 2022; 11,281 horses tested, 6,878 after removing close relatives; per-breed n not given in our sources): Missouri Fox Trotter 5.4%, Rocky Mountain Horse 2.6%, Miniature Horse 1.7%, Gypsy Cob 0.8%, Quarter Horse 0.8%, Tennessee Walking Horse 0.8%, Paint Horse 0.7%, Shetland Pony 0.2%. The Tennessee Walking Horse, the discovery breed, is now among the lowest. The authors note ascertainment bias, as samples were submitted for colour testing, so figures for less-sampled breeds may be overestimated.
Key references:
- Cook D, Brooks S, Bellone R, Bailey E (2008). Missense mutation in exon 2 of SLC36A1 responsible for champagne dilution in horses. PLoS Genet 4:e1000195. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000195. PMID 18802473.
- Sponenberg DP, Bowling AT (1996). Champagne, a dominant color dilution of horses. Genet Sel Evol 28:457-462.
- Avila F, Hughes SS, Magdesian KG, Penedo MCT, Bellone RR (2022). Breed distribution and allele frequencies of base coat color, dilution, and white patterning variants across 28 horse breeds. Genes 13:1641.
- Melvin K, Ivey J, Johnston L. Equine Genetics: Basic Coat Color Inheritance. University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, UT Extension publication W891.