Transcriptomic signature related to welfare of horses housed in individual boxes

In this new study, we analyzed the blood transcriptome of horses housed individually that were first examined for their behavior, health and microbiota. We performed differential and regression analyzes of gene expression to unveil the molecular pathways related to the behavioural changes associated with housing horses in individual boxes. This study shows that aggressiveness towards humans and stereotypies are behavioural indicators that covary with physiological alterations. The study population consisted of 45 sport horses. RNA was extracted from blood and gene expression profiles were performed using Agilent microarrays (1 sample per animal).