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In the Danio species, interspecific hybridization has been conducted in several combinations. Among them, only the hybrid between a zebrafish (D. rerio) female and a spotted danio (D. nigrofasciatus) male was reported to be fertile. However, beyond these investigations, by means of reproductive biology, gametes of the hybrid have also not been investigated genetically. For this study, we induced a hybrid of the D. rerio female and D. nigrofasciatus male in order to study its developmental capacity, reproductive performance and gametic characteristics. Its hybrid nature was genetically verified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis of the rhodopsin gene. Almost all the hybrids (36/37) were males, and only one was female. Developing oocytes were observed in the hybrid female, but ovulated eggs have not been obtained thus far. Microscopic observation revealed various head sizes of sperm in the hybrid males. Flow cytometry showed that the hybrid males generated aneuploid sperm with various ploidy levels up to diploidy. In backcrosses between D. rerio females and hybrid males, fertilization rates were significantly lower than the control D. rerio, and most resultant progeny with abnormal appearance exhibited various kinds of aneuploidies ranging from haploidy to triploidy, but only one viable progeny, which survived more than four months, was triploid. This suggested the contribution of fertile diploid sperm of the hybrid male to successful fertilization and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are segregated and specified from somatic cells during early development. These cells arise elsewhere and have to migrate across the embryo to reach developing gonadal precursors. Several molecules associated with PGC migration (i.e. dead-end, nanos1, and cxcr4) are highly conserved across phylum boundaries. However, since cell migration is a complicated process that is regulated spatially and temporally by multiple adaptors and signal effectors, the process is unlikely to be explained by these known genes only. Indeed, it has been shown that there are variations in PGC migration pattern during development among teleost species. However, it is still unclear whether the actual mechanism of PGC migration is conserved among species. In this study, we studied the migration of PGCs in Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) embryos and tested the migration mechanism between Japanese eel and zebrafish (Danio rerio) for conservation, by transplanting eel PGCs into zebrafish embryos. The experiments showed that eel PGCs can migrate toward the gonadal region of zebrafish embryos along with endogenous PGCs, even though the migration patterns, behaviors, and settlements of PGCs are somewhat different between these species. Our results demonstrate that the migration mechanism of PGCs during embryonic development is highly conserved between these two distantly related species (belonging to different teleost orders). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In some teleost fish, primordial germ cells (PGCs) inherit specific maternal cytoplasmic factors such as vasa and nanos 1 ( nos1) mRNA. It has been shown that the 3′untranslated regions (UTRs) of vasa and nos 1 have critical roles for stabilization of these RNAs in zebrafish PGCs. In this study, to determine whether this role of the nos 1 3'UTR is conserved between teleost species, we injected artificially synthesized mRNA, combining green fluorescent protein (GFP) and the zebrafish nos 1 3'UTR (GFP- nos 1 3'UTR mRNA), into the fertilized eggs of various fish species. The 3'UTR of the Oryzias latipes vasa homologue ( olvas ) mRNA was assayed in the same manner. We demonstrate that the PGCs of seven teleost species could be visualized using GFP- nos 1 3′UTR mRNA. GFP- olvas 3'UTR mRNA did not identify PGCs in herring or loach embryos, but did enable visualization of the PGCs in medaka embryos. Our results indicate that the 3'UTR of the zebrafish nos1 mRNA can promote maintenance of RNAs in the PGCs of different fish species. Finally, we describe and compare the migration routes of PGCs in seven teleost species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study in which the primordial germ cells of zebrafish were described histologically using eosinophilic granules as a marker. Materials; Methodology; Results and discussion.

Generation of clonal zebrafish will facilitate large-scale genetic screening and help us to overcome other biological and biotechnological challenges due to their isogenecity. However, protocols for the development of clonal lines have not been optimized. Here, we sought to develop a novel method for generation of clonal zebrafish by androgenesis induced by cold shock. Androgenetic zebrafish doubled haploids (DHs) were induced by cold shock of just-fertilized eggs, and the eggs were then heat shocked to double the chromosome set. The yield rate of putative DHs relative to the total number of eggs used was 1.10% ± 0.19%. Microsatellite genotyping of the putative DHs using 30 loci that covered all 25 linkage groups detected no heterozygous loci, confirming the homozygosity of the DHs. Thus, a clonal line was established from sperm of a DH through a second cycle of cold-shock androgenesis and heat-shock chromosome doubling, followed by genetic verification of the isogenic rate confirming the presence of identical DNA fingerprints by using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers. In addition, our data provided important insights into the cytological mechanisms of cold-shock-induced androgenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to produce fertile zebrafish (Danio rerio) possessing germ cells (gametes) that originated from cryopreserved primordial germ cells (PGCs). First, to improve the vitrification procedure of PGCs in segmentation stage embryos, dechorionated yolk-intact and yolk-removed embryos, the PGCs of which were labeled with green fluorescent protein, were cooled rapidly after serial exposures to equilibration solution (ES) and vitrification solution (VS), which contained ethylene glycol, DMSO, and sucrose. Yolk removal well prevented ice formation in the embryos during cooling and improved the viability of cryopreserved PGCs. The maximum recovery rate of live PGCs in the yolk-removed embryos vitrified after optimum exposure to ES and VS was estimated to be about 90%, and about 50% of the live PGCs showed pseudopodial movement. Next, to elucidate the ability of cryopreserved PGCs to differentiate into functional gametes, PGCs recovered from the yolk-removed embryos (striped-type) that were vitrified under the optimum exposure to ES and VS were transplanted individually into 218 sterilized recipient blastulae (golden-type). Two days after the transplantation, 7.5% (14/187) of morphologically normal embryos had PGC(s) in the genital ridges. Six (5 males and 1 female) of the 14 recipient embryos developed into mature fish and generated progeny with characteristics inherited from PGC donors. In conclusion, we demonstrated the successful cryopreservation of PGCs by vitrification of yolk-removed embryos and the production of fertile zebrafish possessing germ cells that originated from the PGCs in vitrified embryos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early zebrafish development, the program for dorsal axis formation begins soon after fertilization. Previous studies suggested that dorsal determinants (DDs) localize to the vegetal pole, and are transported to the dorsal blastomeres in a microtubule-dependent manner. The DDs activate the canonical Wnt pathway and induce dorsal-specific genes that are required for dorsal axis formation. Among wnt -family genes, only the wnt8a mRNA is reported to localize to the vegetal pole in oocytes and to induce the dorsal axis, suggesting that Wnt8a is a candidate DD. Here, to reveal the roles of maternal wnt8a , we generated wnt8a mutants by transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and established zygotic, maternal, and maternal zygotic wnt8a mutants by germ-line replacement. Zebrafish wnt8a has two open reading frames (ORF1 and ORF2) that are tandemly located in the genome. Although the zygotic ORF1 or ORF2 wnt8a mutants showed little or no axis-formation defects, the ORF1/2 compound mutants showed antero-dorsalized phenotypes, indicating that ORF1 and ORF2 have redundant roles in ventrolateral and posterior tissue formation. Unexpectedly, the maternal wnt8a ORF1/2 mutants showed no axis-formation defects. The maternal-zygotic wnt8a ORF1/2 mutants showed more severe antero-dorsalized phenotypes than the zygotic mutants. These results indicated that maternal wnt8a is dispensable for the initial dorsal determination, but cooperates with zygotic wnt8a for ventrolateral and posterior tissue formation. Finally, we re-examined the maternal wnt genes and found that Wnt6a is an alternative candidate DD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the only cells in developing embryos with the potential to transmit genetic information to the next generation. We previously visualized the PGCs of several teleostean embryos by injecting RNA synthesized from constructs encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP) fused to the 3''UTR of the zebrafish (Danio rerio) nanos1 gene (nos1). However, this technique was not always suitable for visualizing PGCs in embryos from all teleost species. In this study, we compared the visualization of PGCs in common carp (Cyprinus carpio) embryos using two artificial constructs containing GFP fused to the 3''UTR of nanos from either common carp or zebrafish. Visualization was better using GFP fused to the 3''UTR of the nanos gene from common carp, compared with that from zebrafish. The visualized PGCs successfully migrated toward the gonadal ridge after transplantation into goldfish host embryos, suggesting that they maintained normal migratory motility. These techniques could be useful for the production of inter-specific germline chimeras using common carp donor PGCs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Maternally supplied factors in fertilized eggs play essential roles in the establishment of primordial germ cells. In zebrafish, cytoplasm at the distal ends of the first and second cleavage furrows has been assumed to contain germ lineage determinants, since maternal transcripts of germ lineage-specific genes are localized to ends of the cleavage furrows. To investigate whether these parts of cytoplasm are required for germ cell formation, we removed all four regions of the cytoplasm by glass capillary at the 4-cell stage. Histological analysis revealed that the ablation of cytoplasm at the ends of the cleavage planes resulted in a severe reduction in the number of germ cells. In addition, the expression of germ lineage markers was eliminated by cytoplasmic ablation. These results demonstrated that cytoplasm at the distal ends of cleavage furrows is essential for germ cell formation. We also found novel localization patterns for zDazl and brul mRNAs along the cleavage planes. Our findings provide the first direct evidence that localized cytoplasmic factors are indispensable for germ cell establishment in zebrafish. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]