GENETIC RELATIONSHIPS AND POLYMORPHISM IN CAMEL POPULATIONS
Abstract
Three Egyptian camel breeds were used in the present study (Sudani, Falahi and Maghrabi). These breeds were identified depending on biochemical and molecular genetic fingerprinting of each breed by using protein polymorphism and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) for mitochondrial DNA. Eight primers were amplified for the detection of genetic polymorphism in these breeds using mitochondrial DNA as template. The results of protein analysis indicated that the least polymorphic breed was Maghrabi (17.4%) followed by Sudani breed (40.9%), while the highest was Falahi breed (41.7%). However, when mitochondrial DNA was analyzed, the highest polymorphic ratio was seen in Maghrabi breed (87.3%), while Falahi (84.3%) and Sudani (84.2%) breeds. The similarity index depending upon combination of protein and mtDNA analyses indicated that similarity values between Sudani and Falahi breeds was 0.53, Sudani and Maghrabi breeds was 0.45 and Falahi and Maghrabi breeds was 0.42. The dendrogram was constructed to show the phylogenetic relationships among the three breeds.References
Abo-Elazm, H. E. S. I. (2009). Molecular genetic studies on some camel herds in Egypt. MSc Thesis, Department of Genetics Faculty of Agriculture Ain Shams Univ.
Ayala, F. J., J. R. Powell, M. L. Tracey, C. A. Mourao and S. P. Salas (1972). Enzyme variability in the Drosophila willistoni group. IV Genetic variation in natural populations of Drosophilla willistoni. Genetics, 70: 113-139.
Cui, P., R. Ding, D. Qi, H. Gao, H. Meng, J. Yu, S. Hu and H. Zhang (2007). A complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the wild two-humped camel (Camelus bactrianus Ferus): an evolutionary history of camelidae. BMC Genomics, 8: 241-251.
Dice, L. R. (1945). Measures of the amount of ecologic association between species. Ecology, 26: 297-302.
El-Seoudy, A. A., A. Z. Abd El-Salam, E. E. Tharwat and F. A. M. Abd El-Salam (2008). Molecular genetic identification of some camel breeds in Egypt. Egypt. J. Genet. Cytol., 37: 191-208.
FAO, (2003). Production Yearbook. Vol.56. Roma.
Hames, B. D. and D. Rickwood (eds.) (1981). Gel Electrophoresis pf Proteins: a Practical Approach. IRL Press, Washington, DC. 239-242.
Ismail, M. I., M. Mourad, A. Z. E. Abdelsalam and N. Z. Bedier (2006). Protein polymorphism of some camel breeds in Egypt. Camel Practice and Research, 13: 103-109.
Mordacq, John C. and Roberta W. Ellington (1994). Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (PAGE) of blood proteins. Association for Biology Laboratory Education (ABLE). http://www.zoo.utoronto.ca/able.
Nei, M. and W. H. Li (1979). Mathematical model for study of genetic variation in terms of restriction endonucleases. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 74: 5267-5273.
Wardeh, M. F., A. A. Zaied, H. S. Horier, M. F. Wardeh and R. T. Wilson (1990). Camel breeds in Arab Africa. Proc. of the Inter. Conf. on Camel Production and Improvement, 10-13 December, 1990, Tobruk, Libya. P. 78-86.
Wathig, H. M., M. Y. Galal, A. M. Ali, I. K. Abdelmalik, S. A. Hamid and K. A. Mohamed (2007). Dromedary camels in Sudan, types and sub types, distribution and movement. Proc. of the Inter. Camel Conf., India P. 46-50.
Williams, J. G., A. R. Kubelik, K. J. Livak, J. A. Rafalski and S. V. Tingy (1990). DNA polymorphism amplified by arbitrary primers are useful as genetic markers. Nucleic Acid Res., 18: 6531-6535.
