How Does the One-Humped Arabian Camel Survive Without Drinking?
In a new paper published today in the journal Communications Biology, they have studied the response of the camel's kidneys to dehydration and rapid rehydration stresses. Camelus dromedarius is the most important livestock animal in the arid and semi-arid regions of North and East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Iran, and continues to provide basic needs to millions of people. [...] This animal is so incredibly well adapted to the desert environment that [it] can endure weeks without access to water. A very well-developed kidney is the key to produce highly concentrated urine and assure water is never wasted. [...] The team analysed how thousands of genes changed in the camel kidney as a consequence of dehydration and rehydration and suggested that the amount of cholesterol in the kidney has a role in the water conservation process. They used different techniques to further validate these results. [...] Lead authors Fernando AlviraI Iraizoz and Benjamin T. Gillard from the University of Bristol's Medical School, said: "A decrease in the amount of cholesterol in the membrane of kidney cells would facilitate the movement of solutes and water across different sections of the kidney -- a process that is required to efficiently reabsorb water and produce a highly concentrated urine, thus avoiding water loss.