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Updated: Mar 10, 2026

Measuring Single-Cell Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number and Heteroplasmy Using Digital Droplet Polymerase Chain Reaction
Published on: July 12, 2022
High occurrence of length heteroplasmy in domestic Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus)
Xiaohong He1,2, Xiaofei Chen1,2, Wenbin Zhang3
1a The Key Laboratory for Farm Animal Genetic Resources and Utilization of Ministry of Agriculture of China , Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS) , Beijing , China.
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.
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