PUBLICATION

Enhancement of zebrafish sperm production via a large body-sized surrogate with germ cell transplantation

Authors
Nayak, R., Franěk, R., Šindelka, R., Pšenička, M.
ID
ZDB-PUB-230415-56
Date
2023
Source
Communications biology   6: 412412 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Cyprinidae*
  • Male
  • Semen
  • Spermatogonia
  • Spermatozoa
  • Stem Cell Transplantation
  • Zebrafish*/genetics
PubMed
37059808 Full text @ Commun Biol
Abstract
Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a commonly-used vertebrate model species for many research areas. However, its low milt volume limits effective cryopreservation of sperm from a single individual and often precludes dividing a single semen sample to conduct multiple downstream procedures such as genomic DNA/RNA extraction and in-vitro fertilization. Here, we apply germ stem cell transplantation to increase zebrafish sperm production in a closely related larger species from the same subfamily, giant danio Devario aequipinnatus. The endogenous germ cell of the host is depleted by dead-end morpholino antisense oligonucleotide. Histology of the sterile gonad and quantitative PCR of gonadal tissue reveals all sterile giant danio develop the male phenotype. Spermatogonial cells of Tg(ddx4:egfp) transgenic zebrafish are transplanted into sterile giant danio larvae, and 22% of recipients (germline chimera) produce donor-derived sperm at sexual maturation. The germline chimera produce approximately three-fold the volume of sperm and 10-fold the spermatozoon concentration of the donor. The donor-derived sperm is functional and gives rise to viable progeny upon fertilization of donor oocytes. We show that the issue of low milt volume can be effectively addressed by employing a larger surrogate parent.
Genes / Markers
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping