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| Black-spotted Salmon. (Photo by Flyfishalberta) |
Scientists have tricked male fish cells, which are programmed to become sperm, into transforming into eggs.
This technique could one day be used to quickly produce animals with desired traits, accelerate breeding programs, and help restore declining populations of endangered species.
For a long time, scientists have known that some fish species have the ability to change gender, either spontaneously or when exposed to steroids. This led them to hypothesize that a group of cells in normal male fish that develop into sperm, known as spermatogonia, might be stem cells with the potential to become either sperm or eggs.
To test this hypothesis, researchers isolated spermatogonia from the testes of mature black-spotted salmon and implanted them into newly hatched salmon of both sexes. In the group of newly hatched males, the grafted cells developed into sperm, while in the females, they transformed into eggs.
Currently, scientists are continuing to investigate whether these eggs can revert back into sperm.
The study was conducted by a research team from the University of Tokyo, Japan.
T. An
