Ann T. Bowling

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Ann T. Bowling (June 1, 1943 – December 8, 2000) was an American geneticist who specialized in horses. Born Ann Trommershausen in Portland, Oregon, she earned her bachelor’s degree at Carleton College and a PhD in genetics from the University of California, Davis, in 1969. After a stint at Occidental College, she joined UC Davis in 1973, where she spent the rest of her career and became the executive associate director of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory.

Bowling was a pioneer in animal parentage testing. In the 1980s she helped develop blood typing to verify parentage in horses, and in the 1990s she led the move to DNA-based tests using microsatellites. She studied hereditary diseases, coat color genetics, horse evolution, and breed development, and she contributed to population genetics of feral horses and to efforts to preserve Przewalski’s horse. She was among the founders of the international effort to map the horse genome and extended her work to other animals, including camelids.

Her research also intersected with forensics: the UC Davis lab under her leadership assisted Scotland Yard in a murder investigation by identifying a dog at the crime scene, and the lab later helped establish a canine database used in animal-crime prosecutions. Bowling’s work on pedigree testing helped many breed registries implement genetic verification of parentage.

Bowling and her husband, Michael Bowling, married in 1981 and ran the New Albion Stud together, emphasizing Crabbet Arabian bloodlines. They had a daughter, Lydia, who became a veterinarian.

Key scientific contributions include showing cerebellar abiotrophy in Arabian horses is likely autosomal recessive, tracing HYPP in the American Quarter Horse to a single stallion, and linking lethal white syndrome to a coat-color pattern known as frame overo. She also explored the genetics of other traits and diseases in horses and studied mitochondrial DNA to assess Arabian horse pedigrees and strain claims.

Bowling published extensively, including two books—The Genetics of the Horse (2000) and Horse Genetics (1997)—and about 93 scientific articles. She passed away in Davis, California, at age 57 from a massive stroke.