Camel Research Articles

Old World camels in a modern world - a balancing act between conservation and genetic improvement.

SummaryOld World camels have served humans in cross‐continental caravans, transporting people and goods, connecting different cultures and providing milk, meat, wool and draught since their domestication around 3000–6000 years ago. In a world of modern transport and fast connectivity, these beasts of burden seem to be out‐dated. However, a growing demand for sustainable milk and meat production, especially in countries affected by climate change and increasing desertification, brings dromedaries (Camelus dromedarius) and Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus) back onstage and into the focus of animal breeders and scientists. In this review on the molecular genetics of these economically important species we give an overview about the evolutionary history, domestication and dispersal of Old World camels, whereas highlighting the need for conservation of wild two‐humped camels (Camelus ferus) as an evolutionarily unique and highly endangered species. We provide cutting‐edge information on the current molecular resources and on‐going sequencing projects. We cannot emphasise enough the importance of balancing the need for improving camel production traits with maintaining the genetic diversity in two domestic species with specific physiological adaptation to a desert environment.

Molecular characterization of tyrosinase gene (exon 1) in camels of Saudi Arabia

We detected genetic variations and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of tyrosinase gene (Tyr) among seven camel populations in Saudi Arabia. Exon 1 of TYR was amplified from 166 DNA samples representing six indigenous camel populations and one exotic population (Alsumalia) that yielded a 474-bp fragment. Two SNPs (T/C) were detected at coding positions 200 and 523 bp. Significant differences in genotypic frequencies were observed at coding position 200. Three different genotypes (CC, TT, CT) were detected at position 200 in each studied population, except Alsumalia, which only had CT. At position 523, the CC genotype was detected in Majaheem and TT was detected in the other populations. The C allele dominated over T allele suggesting that coat color might be associated with it. The populations Majaheem, Maghateer, Hamra, Sofr, and Sawahli had higher C allele frequency than Shaul and the exotic Alsumalia. The cluster analysis of genotypic frequencies at positions 200 and 523 indicated that Majaheem was not closely related to other Saudi populations. The detection of polymorphism at position 523 in Majaheem and in wild Bactrian camel led us to conclude that wild Bactrian camel could be the immediate ancestor of Majaheem populations and other Saudi Arabian populations, as well.

The Camels of Charles the Bald

The Camels of Charles the Bald

Trails, footprints, hoofprints

This paper takes issue with the notion behind some genetic sampling of populations that there are autochthonous groups (designated tribal) in India, and that to give a group, its 'anthropological name' [sic] is valid. The archaeological and textual evidence of the earliest known Indo-Europeans and Indo-Iranians is given in bare outline. Possible trails of the Indo-Aryans of Iron-age South Asia are detected in archaeological records, immigration through mountains in the northwest with horses and two-humped camels, and also incursions of small groups of horse-riders, from Vidarbha all the way south to the Tamil country.

Jehu, Horses, Camels, and Job: The Meaning of šip‘at

Zusammenfassung Das Nomen šip’at kommt sechs Mal in der Hebräischen Bibel vor: II Reg 9,17 (2x); Jes 60,6; Ez 26,10; Hi 22,11; 38,24. Die vorherrschende Meinung gibt die Wurzel mit »Überfluss« oder »Flut« wieder und folgt damit offensichtlicherweise der Bedeutung, die die Wurzel šp‘ im Mittel-Aramäischen und im Mischnah Hebräisch hat. Diese Übersetzung wird hier abgelehnt. Stattdessen wird dafür plädiert, dass bei allen Vorkommen das Wort »Staubwolke« bedeutet und verwandt ist mit akkadischen Wörter, die zum Bedeutungsspektrum »Dunkelheit« und »Verdunkelung« gehören. Das verwandte, biblische Nomen šœpa‘ aus Dtn 33,19 wird ebenso hergeleitet.

Association analysis between microsatellite marker polymorphism and body size trait of Qinghai Bactrian camels

17 microsatellite markers were used in this study to analyze genetic diversity of Qinghai Bactrian camels, conduct association analysis between microsatellite markers and body size or other traits and seek for microsatellite markers related to body size measurement of Qinghai Bactrian camels, thus providing a reference for marker assisted selection of Qinghai Bactrian camels. Results indicated that 17 microsatellite markers totally detected 65 alleles, average number of alleles was 3.0524, average heterozygosity was 0.6205 and average polymorphic information content was 0.5813, showing high polymorphism among the Qinghai Bactrian camel population. Association analysis results indicated that 8 microsatellites—LCA82, CMS18, CMS36, CMS104, CVRL101, YWLL29, YWLL36 and YWLL44—exerted different influences on body weight and body size of Qinghai Bactrian camels, especially LCA82 marker had a significant influence on all body sizes of Qinghai Bactrian camels. Specifically speaking, body height of BB genetic type was significantly higher than that of AA genetic type, chest circumference of BB genetic type was higher than those of AA genetic type and BD genetic type, body length and body weight of BB genetic type were significantly higher than those of AC, BD and AA genetic types, and circumference of cannon bone of BD genetic type was significantly higher than that of AA genetic type. 8 markers—LCA82, CMS18, CMS36, CMS104, CVRL1010, YWLL29, YWLL36 and YWLL44—had significant influences on chest circumference and body weight of Qinghai Bactrian camels. Markers LCA82, CMS36 and YWLL44 had significant influences on their body height, and microsatellite markers LCA82, CMS36, CVRL101 and YWLL44 could exert influences on body length of Qinghai Bactrian camels.

Hematobiochemical Disorder in Camels Suffering from different Hemoparasites

Hematobiochemical Disorder in Camels Suffering from different Hemoparasites

Molecular evidence of Trypanosoma evansi infection in Iranian dromedary camel herds

Trypanosoma evansi is a pathogenic African animal protozoan, affecting livestock and wild animals worldwide and Iran. The present study was carried out to detect the infection of T. evansi in one-humped camels (Camelus dromedarius) of southeastern Iran. Over six months, a total numbers of 370 dromedary camels were randomly selected from three sub-areas located in southeastern Iran in 2015. Blood samples were taken from jugular vein and examined by using micro-hematocrit centrifugation (MHCT) and PCR techniques. Genomic DNA was extracted and PCR was performed to amplify a fragment of the mini-chromosome satellite DNA TBR1/2 of T. evansi. The overall prevalence was 31.35% (116/370). The highest T. evansi infection was significantly in adult camels (24.05%, 89/370) with chronic clinical signs (11.89%, 44/370). There was significant difference between prevalence and sex (9.46% male and 21.89% female). Only 19.19% (71 out of 370) of the infected camels were from the plain areas. The highest T. evansi infection rate was significantly recorded in the camels of north (19.19%, 71/370) part of the region. The molecular analysis was uncovered high level of infection with T. evansi in camel herds which can help to establish effective control programs in the region.

Prevalence and histopathological study on cystic hydatidosis in heart and spleen of goat slaughtered at Makkah, Saudi Arabia

Hydatidosis or echinococcosis is considered to be one of the most common zoonotic diseases of the animals. Infection occurs when intermediate hosts such as camel, cattle, sheep, and goats ingested food or water contaminated with eggs from the definitive host (dog). This is a cross-sectional study which was carried out in one of the biggest abattoirs in Makkah in the west of Saudi Arabia. A total number of 38302 goats were examined and recorded at Makkah abattoirs. The examination had been performed to all slaughtered animals on two organs (spleen and heart) for detection of any hydatid cysts during the period from July 2018 until December 2018. The study included also histopathological tissue evaluation. The total infections number of hydatidosis in goats is 0.23%. The infected hearts were 40.35% whereas the infected spleen was 48.48% subsequently in local animals. The imported animals were 2124, the infected animals in heart were 59.64%, whereas the infected animal involving spleen were 51.51%. Meanwhile, results of histopathological examination had shown that most of the hydatid cysts in goats caused progressive focal pressure and degenerative changes in the surrounding tissue.

Aлмaты oблыcы түйeлepiндe csn3 гeнiнiң тapaлy жиiлiгi

Camel breeding is the important industry of agriculture which provides the food and light industry with milk, wool, leather, etc. products. Especially, shubat obtained from camel milk due to its special taste and medical properties is in great demand in the market. In this way, in order to improve the breeding of camels in the dairy direction, it is very important to carry out selection work in this direction. The total amount of caseins that make up camel milk is about 75% of milk protein. These caseins consist of four fractions encoded by the genes CSN1S1, CSN1S2, CSN2 and CSN3: alpha s1, alpha s2, beta and κ-casein. Genetic polymorphism of the above-mentioned genes determines the quantitative and technological properties of milk. Propagation of homozygous animals by these genes is carried out in order to improve the qualitative properties of milk, namely fat content and nutrition. The most beneficial and affordable method for studying these genes is the PCR-RFLP method. In this work, there was studied the polymorphism of the CSN3 gene, which is involved in the formation of qualitative traits of milk in several two-humped camel (Camelus bactrianus) populations that are bred in farms of the Almaty region. Among the 53 camels selected for study, the «useful» cytosine frequency is 0.39. As well, among the studied populations, Hardy-Weinberg equlibrium was determined by the distribution of genotypes (χ2 = 12.1). Key words: camels, dairy productivity, kappa casein, PCR-RFLP analysis.

Atypical myopathy in two-humped camels

Atypical myopathy in two-humped camels

PROTECTIVE AND AMELIORATIVE ROLE OF VITAMIN C AGAINST LEAD TOXICITY IN MALE CAMEL (CAMELUS DROMEDARIES)

The present work aimed to assess the potential role of vitamin C (50 mg/kg body weight) as a protector and/or ameliorator against the toxicity of Pb (0.6 g/kg body weight) in male camel, Camelus dromedarius. Camels were divided into five groups. The 1st group was given de-ionized water, whereas camels of the 2nd group were given orally a single dose of Pb alone as lead acetate. The 3rd group was given a single dose of Pb, then after two days, camels were daily subcutaneously injected with vitamin C for four weeks. Vitamin C was daily injected for two weeks to camels of the 4th group; then administered a single dose of Pb. The camels of the 5th group were given a single dose of Pb, and at the same time, injected daily with vitamin C for four weeks. The data indicated that vitamin C reduced significantly the accumulation of Pb in the blood of groups 3, 4, and 5. The levels of glucose, Ca, P, total proteins, globulins, albumin, uric acid, creatinine and urea, as well as transaminases and alkaline phosphatase activities, and the white and red blood cells, hemoglobin content and hematocrit value were significantly ameliorated by vitamin C. In conclusion, vitamin C is an excellent antioxidant against Pb toxicity for camels.

Camel milk could be helpful in the treatment of asthma

Camel milk could be helpful in the treatment of asthma

Managing employee surplus: the cats, rats, camels and elephants of strategic downsizing matrix

Managing employee surplus: the cats, rats, camels and elephants of strategic downsizing matrix

Some studies on Brucella among camels with reference to isolated strains

Some studies on Brucella among camels with reference to isolated strains

Icarus in the Holy Land: Moments of Frailty

Icarus in the Holy Land:Moments of Frailty Jennifer Tzivia MacLeod (bio) I. Crossing My mother has crossed the ocean. She has spread her wings and flown—unlike Icarus, avoiding the sun—but really, more like Odysseus, for she has spread her skirts and paddled here across the wine-dark Mediterranean Sea. And okay, yes, it was a cruise ship, because it really is the rainy season and as Odysseus discovered, the Mediterranean is too cold and stormy at this time of year for floating and paddling on one's own. And it is true that my mother is no spring chicken. Plus, the corn syrup exploded everywhere, all over her luggage, all over her cabin. I'm sure it would have attracted sharks if she'd just been paddling, hand over hand, spread out on fluttering denim fabric like a manta ray. My corn syrup. A bottle of corn syrup, a last-minute impulse, because certain things are Hard to Get here in Israel. Most things are fine, but there are some things we miss. Corn syrup that is golden yellow; breakfast cereal with the right balance of salt and malt, the two ingredients that I swear make any cereal more delicious. Her bags full of Starbucks; her bags full of Rice Krispies, which perversely they simply do not sell here. At the museum in Jaffa, relics are on display which washed ashore thousands of years ago, and I picture my mother's suitcases washing onto some Cyprus beach a few millennia from now. Encased in plastic, the coffee powder, the malty goodness of cereal, will surely survive, though perhaps not keep its delightful crispness through the ages. Then there is the corn syrup, which has not even withstood its journey across the sea. But overall, we are doing just fine. If my mother is no spring chicken, this makes me the chicken, pecking gratefully at the cereal she releases from her bags. [End Page 139] If my mother is Odysseus, what does that make me? Penelope? Indeed, I worry that I will not recognize my mother when we go to meet her at the seaport in Haifa. I worry each time that the mother in my mind is not the mother who will walk towards me; that she will have been reduced, diminished, aged beyond recognition. A beggar in rags, and we'd walk right past her, rushing, arms outstretched, towards some stranger with a neutral smile. II. Kneeling It's not every day that you cross an ocean to be with the people you love. Years ago, it would have taken forever to make the pilgrimage to this Holy Land. If you survived the journey at all, that is. You set aside a year—hope you didn't have any plans—and hopped on your horse or your donkey or your feet; whatever you had, really. If you went by foot, you'd have to stop along the way, resting, refreshing, burying your dead. If you were royalty, hopefully you had a boat, because that was the best way of all, except for storms or pirates. Then it might take only two years for the return journey. There was a strong chance, for most people, that it would be a one-way trip, the way going to Mars might be today. It's easy to imagine people's reaction when they first touched down on this holy soil after a journey like that. They'd kneel, weep, kiss the ground, thank their lucky stars, shake the captain's hand, or slip a tip into the hand of the camel driver who didn't stab them in their sleep. Here is my mother's reaction. Ready? Okay, wait for it. Here it comes. And . . . "Hi!" Okay, I'm lying; there was no exclamation mark. I have put it in because I will weep if I must take it out. Don't make me take it out. It is a line of my own blood, a dot pricked with a hatpin, because yes, my mother carries hatpins. But no, she doesn't exclaim. I was ready for almost anything, except "Hi." The dailiness of it. The barely...

Banking Health Assessment Using Camels And Rgec Methods Using Ojk Banking Financial Statement

Health is important in many areas of life, both for people and companies. Healthy conditions will enhance work arousal and work ability and other abilities. With the rapid development of banks in Indonesia, among others, marked by the number of emerging banks, it is necessary a supervision of these banks. In this case Bank Indonesia as the central bank requires a control over the banks to know how the financial condition and business activities of each bank. Bank policies issued and implemented by Bank Indonesia are basically aimed at creating and maintaining health, both individually and banking as a system. The health or financial and non-financial condition of the bank is in the interest of all parties concerned, whether the owners, managers (management) of the bank, the community using bank services (customers) and Bank Indonesia as the supervisory authority of banks and other parties. The condition of the bank may be used by such parties to evaluate the bank's performance in applying prudential principles, compliance with applicable regulations and risk management. The development of the banking industry, especially the increasingly complex and diverse products and services will increase the risk exposure facing banks. The problems that arise in the general public is the absence of tools or information system applications how carannya know that the bank where they save the funds is the bank in a healthy condition. Referring to these issues we will create a Prototype Application of Banking Health Assessment Using Camels And Rgec Methods, the source of data to be used comes from the data of banking financial statements by OJK informed to the public. Our research is a kind of applied research (Applied Research). The results can be directly applied to solve the problems encountered. In this research will be made Prototype Application of Banking Health Assessment Using Camels And Rgec Method With Utilization of Data Financial Reports of OJK Banking. The results of the prototype of the application is expected to be used to measure the health of a bank.

The Camel, the Desert-Ship is on its Way to Extinction in Iraq: Report on Slaughtered Camels in Iraq

The Camel, the Desert-Ship is on its Way to Extinction in Iraq: Report on Slaughtered Camels in Iraq

Preparation and identification of the nano antibodies of anti-programmed death receptor-1

Objective To prepare camelid-derived nano antibodies with high affinity binding to programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) antigen, and to provide experimental basis for subsequent functional studies. Methods The PD-1-Fc recombinant protein expressed in eukaryotic expression was used to immunize Xinjiang Bactrian camel 6 times. The peripheral blood was collected and the lymphocytes were isolated. Nested PCR amplification was performed to obtain the genes in variable region of camelid heavy chain antibody (VHH), and to construct a phage display library. The phage display library was screened by solid phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The PD-1 antigen, which was sequentially reduced in mass concentration (5.00、2.50、1.00 μg/ml), was coated in an ELISA plate, and the phage display library was subjected to 3 rounds of affinity selection. Individual clones that bind to PD-1 were further screened by soluble monoclonal ELISA. According to the results of DNA sequencing, three VHH monoclonals with multiple repeats were selected and ligated into pET22b vector, and transformed into E. coli BL21(DE3) competent cells, and then induced by isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside. The recombinant VHH antibody protein was purified by nickel column affinity chromatography, and its binding activity and affinity to PD-1 antigen were detected by Western Blot and ELISA. Results After immunization of Bactrian camel 6 times with recombinant protein PD-1-Fc, high titer specific antibody was stimulated, and the immune serum titer reached 1∶32 000. A VHH phage display library with a reservoir size of 2.6×108 cfu/ml was constructed from the immunized camel lymphocytes. After 3 rounds of affinity selection, 46 VHH monoclonals with absorbance (A600) values above 0.6 were obtained by soluble monoclonal ELISA. Among them, three clones of VHH-B7, VHH-H5 and VHH-H12 had higher repeats, indicating that significant enrichment was obtained. The results of Western Blot and ELISA showed that the purified B7, H5 and H12 nanobodies had good binding activity to PD-1 antigen and had high affinity. Their affinity constants were 1.19×1011 and 1.63×1011, 1.59×1011 L/mol, respectively. Conclusion The anti-PD-1 camelid-derived nanobodies were obtained by affinity selection of VHH phage display library, which can bind to the PD-1 antigen with high affinity. This study can provide an experimental basis for subsequent functional studies. Key words: PD-1; Nano antibodies; Heavy chain antibody variable region; Identification; Phage display

Kinetics of polychlorinated biphenyls in Bactrian camels

The study aimed to determine the accumulation and depuration of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Bactrian camels. Four lactating, two-humped camels (Camelus bactrianus) received 0.8 mg PCBs (1.3 μg/kg body weight) daily for 56 days. Then, the depuration of the animals was monitored for the next 4 months. Milk, blood and hump fat of the camels were sampled every 2 weeks and analyzed. Body weight increased significantly, from approximately 550 to 613 kg, by the end of the study. The fat mass in the humps initially decreased (-2.3 kg, P<0.05) then increased at the end of the depuration period (+2.0 kg, P<0.05). At the end of the exposure period, the concentrations of the indicator PCBs were 1.6 mg/g hump fat, 0.85 mg/g milk fat and 0.56 mg/L blood serum, i.e., ten times over the background level. The concentrations in the hump fat decreased significantly during the depuration period, for congeners 28, 52, 101 and 118, but did not vary appreciably for the heavily chlorinated congeners 138, 153 and 180. The apparently stable concentrations of the heavier congeners may be an artifact of the reduced fat mass in the humps during the first part of the depuration period, combined with fat mobilization, which may mask the reduction of stored PCBs. PCB concentrations in the milk and blood were not significantly reduced during the depuration periods, as they represent the outflow of PCBs from the pool stored in the humps and have a weak affinity for lipophilic compounds, respectively. Therefore, it should be recommended to avoid the consumption of raw fat from camel hump in polluted areas because this organ would easily bioaccumulate organic pollutants during an exposure and store it over an extended period. PCB contaminants in milk would reflect the intensity of the outflow from the stored pool, and it would take a longer time in camels than in other ruminants to obtain safe food after the exposure of the animals to persistent organic pollutants.