Rodríguez-Pena Elba, Suárez Diego, Estévez-Pérez Graciela, Verísimo Patricia, Barreira Noelia, Fernández Luis, González-Tizón Ana, Martínez-Lage Andrés
CICA (Centro Interdisciplinar de Química e Bioloxía), University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain.
Department of Computer Science, University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Nov 17;13(22):3555. doi: 10.3390/ani13223555.
Natural populations of the spider crab constitute a fishery resource of great economic importance in many countries. As in the rest of eubrachyurans, the females of this species have ventral-type seminal receptacles where they store sperm from copulations. Sperm can be stored in these structures for months and even years before egg fertilisation, with the consequent degradation of the sperm cells during the time. In this work, we analyse the viability and the possible genetic damage in sperm accumulated in the seminal receptacles of females as a function of the storage time (from 0 to 14 months) using the comet assay technique. On one hand, we developed an algorithm for comet image analysis that improves the comet segmentation compared with the free software Open comet v1.3.1 (97% vs. 76% of detection). In addition, our software allows the manual modification of the contours wrongly delimited via the automatic tool. On the other hand, our data show a sharp decline in sperm viability and DNA integrity in the first four months of storage, which could lead to a decrease in the fecundity rate and/or viability of the embryos or larvae from the second and third clutches of the annual cycle if the repair capacity in these gametic cells is low.
蜘蛛蟹的自然种群在许多国家构成了具有重要经济意义的渔业资源。与其他真短尾类动物一样，该物种的雌性具有腹侧型受精囊，用于储存交配时获得的精子。在卵子受精前，精子可在这些结构中储存数月甚至数年，在此期间精子细胞会随之退化。在这项研究中，我们使用彗星试验技术分析了雌性受精囊中积累的精子的活力以及可能的遗传损伤与储存时间（从0到14个月）的关系。一方面，我们开发了一种彗星图像分析算法，与免费软件Open comet v1.3.1相比，该算法改进了彗星分割效果（检测率分别为97%和76%）。此外，我们的软件允许手动修改通过自动工具错误划定的轮廓。另一方面，我们的数据显示，在储存的前四个月中精子活力和DNA完整性急剧下降，如果这些配子细胞的修复能力较低，这可能导致年度周期中第二和第三批卵的胚胎或幼体的繁殖率和/或活力下降。
