Data from: Whole-genome sequencing of 128 camels across Asia reveals origin and migration of domestic Bactrian camels

The domestic Bactrian camels were treated as one of the principal means of
locomotion between the eastern and western cultures in history. However,
whether they originated from East Asia or Central Asia remains elusive. To
address this question, we performed whole-genome sequencing of 128 camels
across Asia. The extant wild and domestic Bactrian camels showed
remarkable genetic divergence since they were split from dromedaries. The
wild Bactrian camels also contributed little to the ancestry of domestic
ones though they share close habitat in East Asia. Interestingly, among
the domestic Bactrian camels, those from Iran exhibited the largest
genetic distance and the earliest split from all others in the phylogeny,
in spite of evident admixture between domestic Bactrian camels and
dromedaries living in Central Asia. Taken together, our study supported
the Central Asian origin of domestic Bactrian camels, which were then
immigrated eastward to Mongolia where native wild Bactrian camels
inhabited.