Chub Mackerel Gonads Support Colonization, Survival, and Proliferation of Intraperitoneally Transplanted Xenogenic Germ Cells

The production of xenogenic gametes from large-bodied, commercially important marine fish species in closely related smaller host fish species with short generation times may enable rapid and simple seed production of the target species. As a first step toward this goal, we assessed the suitability of chub mackerel, Scomber japonicus, as a small-bodied recipient species for xenogenic spermatogonial transplantation. Histological observation of the early gonadal development of chub mackerel larvae and transplantation of fluorescent-labeled spermatogonia from Nibe croaker, Nibea mitsukurii, revealed that 5.3-mm chub mackerel larvae were suitable recipients for successful transplantation. Intraperitoneally transplanted xenogenic spermatogonia efficiently colonized the gonads of these recipient larvae, and donor-derived Nibe croaker germ cells proliferated rapidly soon after colonization. Moreover, gonadal soma-derived growth factor (gsdf) mRNA, a gonadal somatic cell marker, was expressed in recipient-derived cells surrounding the incorporated donor-derived germ cells, suggesting that donor-derived germ cells had settled at an appropriate location in the recipient gonad. Our data show that xenogenic spermatogonial transplantation was successful in chub mackerel and that the somatic microenvironment of the chub mackerel gonad can support the colonization, survival, and proliferation of intraperitoneally transplanted xenogenic germ cells derived from a donor species of a different taxonomic family.