Single-Cell Transcriptomic Atlases of Camels and Cattle Unravel Molecular Evolution of Digestive and Metabolic Systems
Shi T. Shan H. Wang H. Guo X. Li H. Han B. Zhu S. Wang F. Tan G. Niyazbekova Z. Ren J. Zhou Y. Zhang Q. Zheng W. Jia M. Zhang A. Cao X. Sun H. Sun D. Fang L. Zheng Y. Wang X. Jiang Y.
2026John Wiley and Sons Inc
Advanced Science
2026
Cellular and molecular characterization of mammals with multi-chambered stomachs is crucial to our understanding of evolution in digestive and metabolic systems. Here, we generate single-cell transcriptomic atlases of 253,448 and 279,057 cells from 54 tissues in camels and cattle, discovering 124 cell types. Cross-species comparisons at four developmental stages reveal a common evolutionary origin among camel glandular sac, third-chambered stomach, and bovine abomasum, with the camel lineages uniquely harboring a cell population characterized by heightened expression of genes involved in cell proliferation. Also, the advantages of camel hepatocytes in prevention of excessive fat deposition are uncovered. Interestingly, the spatial transcriptomic analysis further reveals a unique population of S100A4+ vascular smooth muscle cells in camel rather than other mammalian kidneys, potentially involved in prevention of renal hypertension. Altogether, our study provides invaluable resources for evolutionary biology and highlights cellular innovations underlying mammalian adaptation.
camel , cattle , kidney , multi-chambered stomach evolution , single-cell transcriptomic atlas
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Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center For Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, National Engineering Laboratory For Animal Breeding, Department of Animal Genetics, College of Animal Science and Technology, Breeding and Reproduction, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
Institute of Dairy Science, College of Animal Sciences, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular Animal Nutrition, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Reference center For Safety and Quality of Agricultural Products, Kazakh National Agrarian Research University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics
Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics
Institute of Dairy Science
Reference center For Safety and Quality of Agricultural Products
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