Whole-genome sequencing of 128 camels across Asia provides insights into origin and migration of domestic Bactrian camels

Abstract

The domestic Bactrian camels were treated as the principal means of locomotion between the eastern and western cultures in history. To address the question of their origin, we performed whole-genome sequencing of 128 camels across Asia, including representative populations of domestic Bactrian camels from the Mongolian Plateau to the Caspian Sea, as well as the extant wild Bactrian camels and dromedaries. The domestic and wild Bactrian camels showed remarkable genetic divergence since they were split from dromedaries, confirming they were separated species. The wild Bactrian camels made also little contribution to the ancestry of domestic ones. Among the domestic Bactrian camels, those from Iran exhibited the largest genetic distance from others, and were the first population to separate in the phylogeny. Although evident admixture was observed between domestic Bactrian camels and dromedaries living around the Caspian Sea, the large genetic distance and basal position of Iranian Bactrian camels could not be explained by introgression alone. Taken together, our study favored the Iranian origin of domestic Bactrian camels, which were then immigrated eastward to Mongolia where the native wild Bactrian camels inhabited. This study illustrated the complex genomic landscape of migration underlying domestication in Bactrian camels.