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First evidence of viable progeny from three interspecific parents in sturgeon

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Abstract

Polyspermy is the most commonly observed cause of embryonic abnormalities in fertilization, often resulting in death. In sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus), however, polyspermic embryos have high survival (similar to a control group) and morphological development is similar to monospermic larvae. Ploidy of these individuals is n/2n mosaic (whereas the normal state for A. ruthenus is a functional diploid). This study was undertaken to test whether sturgeon eggs can be fertilized by several spermatozoa from different species to produce viable offspring from three interspecific parents: A. ruthenus (2n), A. gueldenstaedtii (4n), and A. baerii (4n). Four trials were performed: (1) and (2) A. baerii eggs were fertilized with a mixture of A. ruthenus and A. gueldenstaedtii sperm; (3) A. gueldenstaedtii eggs were fertilized with a mixture of A. baerii and A. ruthenus sperm; and (4) A. gueldenstaedtii eggs were fertilized with a mixture of A. gueldenstaedtii and A. ruthenus sperm. Fertilized embryos with abnormal cleavage (3, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10 cells) were collected and kept separately until 14 days post-fertilization. Ploidy level of 25 larvae (hatched from abnormal cleaved embryos) was evaluated by flow cytometry. Forty-four percent of observed hybrids had a mosaic 2n/3n ploidy. Five larva were processed further with microsatellite analysis and demonstrated that three specimens were heterospecific polyspermic larvae, containing alleles from three parents, and two specimens were conspesific polyspermic larvae from two parents. This astonishing phenomenon was emphasized by the fact that it was generated without any significant intervention.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all members of the Laboratory of Germ Cells, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice for their support.

Funding

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, projects CENAKVA (CZ.1.05/2.1.00/01.0024), “CENAKVA II” (LO1205 under the NPU I program), the Grant Agency of the University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice (125/2016/Z), by the Czech Science Foundation (17-19714Y), and project Biodiversity (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/16_025/0007370).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Zatisi 728/II, 389 25, Vodnany, Czech Republic

    Viktoriia Iegorova, Martin Psenicka & Taiju Saito

  2. Nishiura Station, South Ehime Fisheries Research Center, Ehime University, Uchidomari, Ainan, Ehime, 798-4206, Japan

    Milos Havelka & Taiju Saito

Authors
  1. Viktoriia Iegorova
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  2. Milos Havelka
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  3. Martin Psenicka
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  4. Taiju Saito
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Viktoriia Iegorova.

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All experimental procedures were performed in accordance with national and institutional guidelines on animal experimentation and care and were approved by the Animal Research Committee of the Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters in Vodnany, Czech Republic.

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Iegorova, V., Havelka, M., Psenicka, M. et al. First evidence of viable progeny from three interspecific parents in sturgeon. Fish Physiol Biochem 44, 1541–1550 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-018-0553-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-018-0553-6

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