Abstract
Heteroplasmy is the presence of more than one mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variant within a cell, tissue, or individual. In this study, sequence variation was investigated in the control region (CR) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 135 individuals belonging to five primary domestic Bactrian camel breeds in China and Mongolia. Due to variation of the repeat unit G(T/C)(AC)n, length heteroplasmy was detected within each camel by direct sequencing and fragment analysis. A high occurrence of mtDNA heteroplasmy, up to 100 percentages was observed in five camel populations. Our study provides the first evidence of extensive length heteroplasmy in Bactrian camels.
Disclosure statement
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Funding information
This work was supported by the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of China to YM (Grant No. ASTIP-IAS01), Special Fund for Basic Scientific Research of Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences to XH (Grant No. 2012cj-6) and Chinese Domestic Animal Germplasm Resources Infrastructure to YM. LJ was supported by the Elite Youth Program in Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.