Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42160398›Full record

ArticlePLoS genetics2026

An intronic variant in Ferredoxin Reductase (FDXR) creates a cryptic exon in Quarter Horses with Equine Juvenile Spinocerebellar Ataxia.

Briana N Brown, Anna R Dahlgren, Sharmila Ghosh, Blythe Durbin-Johnson, Andrew Willis, Cassandra Olivas, Daniel York, Robert Grahn, Rebecca R Bellone, Gino A Cortopassi and 4 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS genetics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Briana N BrownDepartment of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2774-071X
Anna R DahlgrenDepartment of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3571-5041
Sharmila GhoshDepartment of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
Blythe Durbin-JohnsonBioinformatics Core Facility, Genome Center, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3961-4136
Andrew WillisWeatherford Equine Medical Center, Weatherford, Texas, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4531-4770
Cassandra OlivasDepartment of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2876-2897
Daniel YorkDepartment of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6286-2894
Robert GrahnVeterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
Rebecca R BelloneDepartment of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
Gino A CortopassiDepartment of Molecular Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
Andrew D MillerDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Anatomic Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.
C Titus BrownDepartment of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
Kevin WoolardDepartment of Anatomic Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
Carrie J FinnoDepartment of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5924-0234

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Equine Juvenile Spinocerebellar Ataxia (EJSCA) is a novel autosomal recessive neurologic disease in Quarter Horses. Affected foals display a progressive proprioceptive ataxia by 1-5 weeks of age, leading to recumbency and necessitating euthanasia. Whole genome sequencing was performed on 7 EJSCA cases and unaffected horses that included 4 obligate carriers, 4 unaffected half or full-siblings, and 28 unrelated, unaffected control Quarter Horses. An 82 kb region of association was identified (EquCab3.0, chr11: 6963986-7045999), containing 9 candidate SNPs across four genes (FADS6, FDXR, GRIN2C and TMEM104). Decreased FDXR mRNA expression and a cryptic exon was identified in spinal cord tissue from EJSCA cases via RNA-sequencing. One of the 9 associated SNPs (FDXR-203 c.177 + 1778G > C) was the eighth base pair of this cryptic exon. Affected foals were all homozygous for the variant. Protein concentrations of FDXR were lower in EJSCA cases in spinal cord and liver compared to unaffected controls. The FDXR-203 c.177 + 1778G > C mutation represents the first non-coding neurological genetic variant in horses. Additionally, this is the first genetic cause of a degenerative axonopathy in the horse and a spontaneous disease model to study FDXR pathology in humans.

Indexed as

Horse DiseasesSpinocerebellar AtaxiasAnimalsExonsFemaleHorsesIntronsMalePolymorphism, Single NucleotideSpinal CordWhole Genome Sequencing

Identifiers

PMID42160398
PMCPMC13215600

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.