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Location: Newfoundland!
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Location: Newfoundland!
September 13th, 2007, 05:08 PM
LAURAN NEERGAARD
Associated Press
September 13, 2007 at 3:52 PM EDT
Washington — Papa salmon plus mama salmon equals ... baby trout?
Japanese researchers put a new spin on surrogate parenting as they engineered one fish species to produce another, in a quest to preserve endangered fish.
Idaho scientists begin the next big step next month, trying to produce a type of salmon highly endangered in that state — the sockeye — this time using more plentiful trout as surrogate parents.
The new method is “one of the best things that has happened in a long time in bringing something new into conservation biology,” said University of Idaho zoology professor Joseph Cloud, who is leading the U.S. government-funded sockeye project.
The Tokyo University inventors dubbed their method “surrogate broodstocking.” They injected newly hatched but sterile Asian masu salmon with sperm-growing cells from rainbow trout — and watched the salmon grow up to produce trout.
The striking success, published in Friday's edition of the journal Science, is capturing the attention of conservation specialists, who say new techniques are badly needed. Captive breeding of endangered fish is difficult, and attempts to freeze fish eggs for posterity so far have failed.
“They showed nicely that ... they produced the fish they were shooting for,” said John Waldman, a fisheries biologist at Queens College in New York.
“Future work should look to expand this approach to other fishes in need of conservation, in particular, the sturgeons and paddlefish,” he added. “We have a lot of species of fish around the world that are really in danger of becoming extinct.”
The Japanese researchers' ultimate goal: Boost the rapidly dwindling population of bluefin tuna, a species prized in a country famed for its tuna appetite.
“We need to rescue them somehow,” said Goro Yoshizaki, a Tokyo University marine scientist who is leading the research.
First, Mr. Yoshizaki's team started with “salmonids,” a family that includes both salmon and trout, and one of concern to biologists because several species are endangered or extinct.
Initial attempts to transplant sperm-producing cells into normal masu salmon mostly produced hybrids of the two species that didn't survive.
This time, Mr. Yoshizaki engineered salmon to be sterile. He then injected newly hatched salmon with stem cells destined to grow into sperm that he had culled from male rainbow trout.
Once they were grown, 10 of 29 male salmon who got the injections produced trout sperm, called milt.
Here's the bigger surprise: Injecting the male cells into female salmon sometimes worked, too, prompting five female salmon to ovulate trout eggs. That's a scientific first, Mr. Yoshizaki said.
The stem cells were still primitive enough to switch gears from sperm-producers to egg-producers when they wound up inside female organs, explained Idaho's Cloud.
Then Mr. Yoshizaki used the salmon-grown trout sperm to fertilize both wild trout eggs and the salmon-grown trout eggs. DNA testing confirmed that all of the dozens of resulting baby fish were pure trout, he reported.
Moreover, those new trout grew up able to reproduce.
Those first experiments, funded by a Japanese research institute, used still fairly plentiful species to develop the technique. Now comes Idaho's attempt to prove if the method is really useful in trying to produce the endangered sockeye salmon.
Last January, Mr. Yoshizaki helped University of Idaho scientists collect and freeze immature sperm tissue from young sockeye salmon being raised at a state-run hatchery. Next month, he'll be back to help Cloud thaw the tissue and implant it into sterile rainbow trout.
In Japan, Mr. Yoshizaki is focused on bluefin tuna, noting that standard “marine ranching” techniques are difficult for tuna that can reach man-size.
He has begun experiments into how to produce baby tuna from mackerel, which are nearly a thousand times smaller than adult tuna. If it works, “we can save space, cost and labour,” he predicted in an e-mail interview.
LAURAN NEERGAARD
Associated Press
September 13, 2007 at 3:52 PM EDT
Washington — Papa salmon plus mama salmon equals ... baby trout?
Japanese researchers put a new spin on surrogate parenting as they engineered one fish species to produce another, in a quest to preserve endangered fish.
Idaho scientists begin the next big step next month, trying to produce a type of salmon highly endangered in that state — the sockeye — this time using more plentiful trout as surrogate parents.
The new method is “one of the best things that has happened in a long time in bringing something new into conservation biology,” said University of Idaho zoology professor Joseph Cloud, who is leading the U.S. government-funded sockeye project.
The Tokyo University inventors dubbed their method “surrogate broodstocking.” They injected newly hatched but sterile Asian masu salmon with sperm-growing cells from rainbow trout — and watched the salmon grow up to produce trout.
The striking success, published in Friday's edition of the journal Science, is capturing the attention of conservation specialists, who say new techniques are badly needed. Captive breeding of endangered fish is difficult, and attempts to freeze fish eggs for posterity so far have failed.
“They showed nicely that ... they produced the fish they were shooting for,” said John Waldman, a fisheries biologist at Queens College in New York.
“Future work should look to expand this approach to other fishes in need of conservation, in particular, the sturgeons and paddlefish,” he added. “We have a lot of species of fish around the world that are really in danger of becoming extinct.”
The Japanese researchers' ultimate goal: Boost the rapidly dwindling population of bluefin tuna, a species prized in a country famed for its tuna appetite.
“We need to rescue them somehow,” said Goro Yoshizaki, a Tokyo University marine scientist who is leading the research.
First, Mr. Yoshizaki's team started with “salmonids,” a family that includes both salmon and trout, and one of concern to biologists because several species are endangered or extinct.
Initial attempts to transplant sperm-producing cells into normal masu salmon mostly produced hybrids of the two species that didn't survive.
This time, Mr. Yoshizaki engineered salmon to be sterile. He then injected newly hatched salmon with stem cells destined to grow into sperm that he had culled from male rainbow trout.
Once they were grown, 10 of 29 male salmon who got the injections produced trout sperm, called milt.
Here's the bigger surprise: Injecting the male cells into female salmon sometimes worked, too, prompting five female salmon to ovulate trout eggs. That's a scientific first, Mr. Yoshizaki said.
The stem cells were still primitive enough to switch gears from sperm-producers to egg-producers when they wound up inside female organs, explained Idaho's Cloud.
Then Mr. Yoshizaki used the salmon-grown trout sperm to fertilize both wild trout eggs and the salmon-grown trout eggs. DNA testing confirmed that all of the dozens of resulting baby fish were pure trout, he reported.
Moreover, those new trout grew up able to reproduce.
Those first experiments, funded by a Japanese research institute, used still fairly plentiful species to develop the technique. Now comes Idaho's attempt to prove if the method is really useful in trying to produce the endangered sockeye salmon.
Last January, Mr. Yoshizaki helped University of Idaho scientists collect and freeze immature sperm tissue from young sockeye salmon being raised at a state-run hatchery. Next month, he'll be back to help Cloud thaw the tissue and implant it into sterile rainbow trout.
In Japan, Mr. Yoshizaki is focused on bluefin tuna, noting that standard “marine ranching” techniques are difficult for tuna that can reach man-size.
He has begun experiments into how to produce baby tuna from mackerel, which are nearly a thousand times smaller than adult tuna. If it works, “we can save space, cost and labour,” he predicted in an e-mail interview.
Ponderous Intellect
Posts: 3,859
Location: Victoria, BC
Location: Victoria, BC
September 13th, 2007, 05:21 PM
But still, even the fish is pretty cool. Jurassic Park anyone?
Quoting hermanntrude
Moreover, those new trout grew up able to reproduce.
That's amazing. Often the genetically altered or mixed species critters are sterile. Be interesting to see if they can do it with mammals, since I would assume that would be more complex.Moreover, those new trout grew up able to reproduce.
But still, even the fish is pretty cool. Jurassic Park anyone?
September 13th, 2007, 07:13 PM
LOL... I want to see the day we have chimps giving birth to our babies for us.
Quoting Cosmo
That's amazing. Often the genetically altered or mixed species critters are sterile. Be interesting to see if they can do it with mammals, since I would assume that would be more complex.
But still, even the fish is pretty cool. Jurassic Park anyone?
But still, even the fish is pretty cool. Jurassic Park anyone?
LOL... I want to see the day we have chimps giving birth to our babies for us.
A Mad Mulligan
Posts: 2,766
Videos: 3
Location: The Moonsine Cafe
Videos: 3
Location: The Moonsine Cafe
September 13th, 2007, 10:48 PM
This is a job for MEN!
Men could do this job easily and very efficiently too.
Simple deligation to the female of the species will get this job done while leaving time for watching sports.
Now see how easy that was. That's right, Men! Always willing to lend a hand.
Quoting karrie
Nah, chimpanzee have enough on their plate as it is.
LOL... I want to see the day we have chimps giving birth to our babies for us.
This is a job for MEN!
Men could do this job easily and very efficiently too.
Simple deligation to the female of the species will get this job done while leaving time for watching sports.
Now see how easy that was. That's right, Men! Always willing to lend a hand.
September 13th, 2007, 10:59 PM
Ooo... I can't see that going well at all. Women start at roughly 11 years old with the hormone swings, prepping for the biggest one of them all, and even then they often go off the deep end. Poor men with your constant hormone levels would even more poorly equipped... postpartum depression on top of male aggression... yikes!
You'd be on the couch alright, and the football game may be on, but there'd be too many tears to watch it properly! lol.
Ooo... I can't see that going well at all. Women start at roughly 11 years old with the hormone swings, prepping for the biggest one of them all, and even then they often go off the deep end. Poor men with your constant hormone levels would even more poorly equipped... postpartum depression on top of male aggression... yikes!
You'd be on the couch alright, and the football game may be on, but there'd be too many tears to watch it properly! lol.
Quoting Unforgiven
Nah, chimpanzee have enough on their plate as it is.
This is a job for MEN!
Men could do this job easily and very efficiently too.
Simple deligation to the female of the species will get this job done while leaving time for watching sports.
Now see how easy that was. That's right, Men! Always willing to lend a hand.
This is a job for MEN!
Men could do this job easily and very efficiently too.
Simple deligation to the female of the species will get this job done while leaving time for watching sports.
Now see how easy that was. That's right, Men! Always willing to lend a hand.
September 13th, 2007, 11:03 PM
Quoting #juan
Ask Tonington... he's the wonderfully windswept guy who knows about fishes.
Wait a minute here. Are Salmon not a species of Trout? Or vice versa? Are Steelhead Salmon not just sea-run Rainbow Trout? The two species seem to be very close. What do you think Hermann?
September 14th, 2007, 05:25 AM
Salmon and trout are in the same family, salmonidae. A steelhead is an anadromous strain of rainbow trout, ie. they are born in the fresh water and grow large to maturity in salt water, before returning to spawn, like the salmon do. Char are also a member of the family, and there is some debate as to whether they are a trout or a salmon.
Salmon and trout are in the same family, salmonidae. A steelhead is an anadromous strain of rainbow trout, ie. they are born in the fresh water and grow large to maturity in salt water, before returning to spawn, like the salmon do. Char are also a member of the family, and there is some debate as to whether they are a trout or a salmon.
A Mad Mulligan
Posts: 2,766
Videos: 3
Location: The Moonsine Cafe
Videos: 3
Location: The Moonsine Cafe
September 14th, 2007, 06:19 AM
Hey it's an Oscar! (Astronotus ocellatus) A great fish and a fun pet. I used to have a pair of them. They lived for many a year in the tanks I put into an elementary school. One of them, Alice, taught a class of special ed kids that everyone has their own personality, how you look on the outside doesn't mean much when it comes to who you are as a person, and the responsibility of having some thing's life depend upon you. And of course the importance of washing your hands.
The last year I put the tanks in the school, Alice had a birthday party, and the whole damn school turned out for it. All the kids idea with a fish shaped cake, hundreds of birthday cards for Alice and even kids singing happy birthday to a fish.
Oscars are a bit like dogs in a way, in that they can be hand tamed, eat right out of your hand, react to you on a personal level, even come over to be petted. I've got a soft spot for Oscars.
Often people see them in pet stores when they are about the size of an rubber eraser and like the look of them. Bring them home only to find that they grow to nearly a foot long and can become quite aggressive, wrecking tanks and eating other inhabitants.
Heh
Hey it's an Oscar! (Astronotus ocellatus) A great fish and a fun pet. I used to have a pair of them. They lived for many a year in the tanks I put into an elementary school. One of them, Alice, taught a class of special ed kids that everyone has their own personality, how you look on the outside doesn't mean much when it comes to who you are as a person, and the responsibility of having some thing's life depend upon you. And of course the importance of washing your hands.
The last year I put the tanks in the school, Alice had a birthday party, and the whole damn school turned out for it. All the kids idea with a fish shaped cake, hundreds of birthday cards for Alice and even kids singing happy birthday to a fish.
Oscars are a bit like dogs in a way, in that they can be hand tamed, eat right out of your hand, react to you on a personal level, even come over to be petted. I've got a soft spot for Oscars.
Often people see them in pet stores when they are about the size of an rubber eraser and like the look of them. Bring them home only to find that they grow to nearly a foot long and can become quite aggressive, wrecking tanks and eating other inhabitants.
Heh
Quoting triedit
Who's yer daddayyy
