French scientists have made a breakthrough in evaluating hidden doping histories that equine RNA can reveal, and their methods could soon lead to new doping control measures that can catch even the sneakiest substance abuse cases. | Photo: Courtesy Dr. Ludovic Bailly-Chouriberry

Getting that DNA to tell its secrets, however, has been a challenge for researchers—until now. Working with whole, undamaged RNA (the part of the DNA involved in gene expression) is a delicate task requiring immediate, complex, high-tech laboratory conditions that you’ll rarely find in a horse stable. But French scientists have made a breakthrough in “breaking into” the hidden doping histories that equine RNA can reveal, and their methods could soon lead to new doping control measures that can catch even the sneakiest substance abuse cases.

“We’ve developed a method that allows us to use commercial human RNA sample extraction kits to carry out the extraction of equine RNA so that we can accurately measure gene expression within individual horses over the long-term,” said Ludovic Bailly-Chouriberry, PhD, Laboratory Director of LCH Laboratory, in Verrières le Buisson.

Essentially, this means working with a horse’s “biological passport”—a record of his readings performed through “omics,” the branch of practical science applications relating to terms ending in the suffix -omics. That includes genomics, transcriptomics (the study of the complete set of RNA transcripts produced by the genome), proteomics (large-scale study of proteins, particularly their structures and functions), steroidomics (the study of the horse’s entire set of steroids), and metabolomics (systematic study of the unique chemical molecules that specific cellular processes generate), to name a few