GENETIC RELATIONSHIPS AND POLYMORPHISM IN CAMELPOPULATIONS

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.