A comprehensive analysis of gene expression in the kidney of the one-humped Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius) during dehydration and rehydration

Abstract

The one-humped Arabian camel (Camelus dromededarius) is the most important livestock animal in arid and semi-arid regions and continues to be a valuable source of essential products for a large number of people. However, global warming has placed additional pressure on camels living in already extreme environments. Researchers are now equipped to understand the underlying adaptive mechanisms camels use to cope with environmental stressors. This study therefore presents a comprehensive review of the camel genome, as well as the transcriptomes, proteomes and phosphoproteomes of the kidney of the one-humped Arabian camel during dehydration. Nineteen healthy dromedary camels were divided into control, dehydrated and rehydrated groups in order to study changes in phosphorylation events associated with severe dehydration and acute rehydration. Proteins were extracted from the kidney cortex and medulla and Tandem Mass Tagging-Mass Spectrometry (TMT-MS) was used to measure relative peptide abundance and phosphorylation rate. Data analysis were performed using RStudio. This study identified a total of 1913 phosphorylated proteins. Gene Ontology (GO) analyses demonstrated: firstly, enrichment of terms related to sodium ion transport; secondly, negative regulation of sodium ion transmembrane transport; and thirdly, positive regulation of cellular protein localization and protein kinases. The thirteen most frequent genes appearing in GO analyses were subsequently selected for further analysis. This result indicates Myosin (MYH9) genes is the most significant changes in the abundanance of phosphrylated in the cortex during dehydration with p<0.05. Thus, it might have a major role for helping camel to survive in deserts