Key Laboratory of Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuhan, 430223, China.
Noto Center for Fisheries Science and Technology, Faculty of Biological Science and Technology, Kanazawa University, Ishikawa, 927-0552, Japan.
Theriogenology. 2020 Dec;158:168-179. doi: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2020.08.005. Epub 2020 Aug 15.
The Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius), one of the world's largest freshwater fish, was last seen alive in 2003; they are presumed now to be extinct. In fish, germ cell transplantation is currently known as one of the most powerful assisted reproductive technologies for the conservation of endangered species. In the event that a Chinese paddlefish is unexpectedly caught in the near future, we aimed to develop an experimental strategy to produce paddlefish gametes in the gonads of surrogate sturgeon. Spermatogonia were collected from the testes of 2.5-year-old immature male American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula), the species most closely related to the Chinese paddlefish, by Percoll gradient centrifugation, and transplanted into the peritoneal cavity of Yangtze sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus) larvae at 7-8 days post-hatch. At two months post-transplantation, donor-derived spermatogonia had efficiently colonized in the recipient gonads and proliferated. A PCR analysis developed to detect xenogenic donor-derived mtDNA sequences in recipient gonads revealed that American paddlefish germ cells survived for at least seven months after transplantation in the gonads of Yangtze sturgeon recipients. These results show that the somatic microenvironment of Yangtze sturgeon gonads was able to support the colonization, proliferation, and survival of xenogeneic germ cells from a different taxonomic family. This study provides key information that could lead to future restoration of Chinese paddlefish using germ cell transplantation.
白鲟（Psephurus gladius），世界上最大的淡水鱼之一，最后一次被目击到是在 2003 年，现在被认为已经灭绝。在鱼类中，种间生殖细胞移植目前被认为是保护濒危物种最强大的辅助生殖技术之一。如果中国白鲟在不久的将来被意外捕获，我们旨在开发一种实验策略，即在鲟鱼的性腺中产生白鲟配子。精原细胞通过 Percoll 梯度离心从 2.5 岁的不成熟雄性美洲白鲟（Polyodon spathula）睾丸中收集，美洲白鲟是与中国白鲟最接近的物种，并移植到孵化后 7-8 天的长江鲟（Acipenser dabryanus）幼鱼的腹腔中。在移植后两个月，供体来源的精原细胞有效地在受体性腺中定植和增殖。开发的 PCR 分析用于检测受体性腺中异源供体来源的 mtDNA 序列，结果表明，美洲白鲟生殖细胞在长江鲟受体的性腺中移植后至少存活了七个月。这些结果表明，长江鲟性腺的体细胞微环境能够支持来自不同分类家族的异源生殖细胞的定植、增殖和存活。这项研究提供了关键信息，可能导致未来使用生殖细胞移植来恢复中国白鲟。
