Abstract

Tyrosinase gene or C locus has long been implicated in the coat colour determination.This gene a copper-containing enzyme located on chromosome 11q14.3 is expressed in melanocytes and controls the major steps in pigment production. In camel, C locus a restriction site provoked by the T variant of the mutation was used in a special restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (PCR-RFLP) for genotyping of camels from six different Pakistani camel breeds (Marecha, Dhatti, Larri, Kohi, Campbelpuri and Sakrai). Significant differences in the genotype frequency between the breeds were estimated. The Sakrai breed showed in comparison to other studied breeds a distinctly higher frequency of the homozygous with restriction genotype. The objective of the present study was to screen the camel breeds using modern genetic technique that have been so far classified on the basis of performance and tribal ownership.

Key words: Camel, genotype, restriction endonuclease.