Cytogenetic profile of Kachchhi camel (Camelus dromedarius)

Cytogenetic study of Kachchhi camel was carried out using short term whole blood culture technique. RPMI 1640 containing 15 per cent foetal bovine serum, pokeweed mitogen (2.5 mug/ml) and antibiotics was used for the culture. The cell growth was arrested in metaphase using colchicine (0.5 mug/ml) after 71 hours. The metaphase spreads were obtained after hypotonic treatment using 0.56 per cent KCl for 10 minutes followed by fixation in 3:1 methanol acetic acid. Giemsa stained karyotype of male and female Kachchhi camels revealed diploid chromosome complement consisting of 31 pairs of acrocentric chromosomes and 5 pairs of submetacentric chromosomes. X chromosome was one of the largest metacentric and Y chromosome was small metacentric.