Gamete Collection and In Vitro Fertilization of Astyanax mexicanus

Summary

In vitro fertilization is a commonly used technique with a variety of model organisms to maintain lab populations and produce synchronized embryos for downstream applications. Here, we present a protocol that implements this technique for different populations of the Mexican tetra fish, Astyanax mexicanus.

Abstract

Astyanax mexicanus is emerging as a model organism for a variety of research fields in biological science. Part of the recent success of this teleost fish species is that it possesses interfertile cave and river-dwelling populations. This enables the genetic mapping of heritable traits that were fixed during adaptation to the different environments of these populations. While this species can be maintained and bred in the lab, it is challenging to both obtain embryos during the daytime and create hybrid embryos between strains. In vitro fertilization (IVF) has been used with a variety of different model organisms to successfully and repeatedly breed animals in the lab. In this protocol, we show how, by acclimatizing A. mexicanus to different light cycles coupled with changes in water temperature, we can shift breeding cycles to a chosen time of the day. Subsequently, we show how to identify suitable parental fish, collect healthy gametes from males and females, and produce viable offspring using IVF. This enables related procedures such as the injection of genetic constructs or developmental analysis to occur during normal working hours. Furthermore, this technique can be used to create hybrids between the cave and surface-dwelling populations, and thereby enable the study of the genetic basis of phenotypic adaptations to different environments.

Introduction

In recent years, Astyanax mexicanus has become a model organism in different fields such as developmental biology, evolutionary biology, behavioral biology, and physiology^1,2,3,4. The uniqueness of this system comes from this species having several morphotypes that have adapted to very different environments. The surface dwelling morphotype lives in rivers where there is high biodiversity and plenty of food sources for the fish. In contrast, the cave morphotypes of A. mexicanus, the cavefish, live in caves where biodiversit....

Protocol

All methods described here have been approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

1. Light cycle manipulation

1. Set up fish tanks within an opaque, fully enclosed (light protection), flow-through aquaculture system containing multiple rows of tanks (Figure 1).
   NOTE: The flow-through system as shown in Figure 1 uses system water to flush waste through th.......

Discussion

While IVF is a standardized method for many different model organisms such as zebrafish, existing protocols for A. mexicanus do not take into account that this species naturally spawns during night hours⁶. Given that cavefish and surface fish differ quite drastically in their circadian rhythms, the maturation cycle of the ova also differs between the cave and surface morphotypes. While the staging temperatures and times for surface A. mexicanus are well studied^1.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
0.6 mL Centrifuge Tube	Eppendorf	#22364111
100 mm Petri Dishes	VWR International	#25384-302
Aspirator Tube	Drummond	#2-000-000
Calibrated 1-5 µL Capillary Tubes	Drummond	#2-000-001
Dispolable Spatulas	VWR International	#80081-188
HMA-50S  50W Aquatic Heaters	Finnex	HMA-50S
P1000 Pipette	Eppendorf	#3123000063
P1000 Pipette Tips	Thermo Scientific	#2079E
Sanyo MIR-554 incubator	Panasonic Health Care	MIR-554-PA
Sperm Extender E400			130 mM KCl, 50 mM NaCl, 2 mM CaCl2 (2H2O), 1 mM MgSO4 (7H2O), 10 mM D (+)-Glucose, 30 mM HEPES Adjust to pH 7.9 with  5M KOH and filter sterilize. Solution can be stored at 4 ˚C for up to 6 months.
Sponge Animal Holder			Made from scrap foam
System Water			Deionized water supplemented with Instant Ocean Sea Salt [Blacksburg, VA] to reach a specific conductance of 800 µS/cm.  Water quality parameters are maintained within safe limits (Upper limit of total ammonia nitrogen range, 1 mg/L; upper limit of nitrite range, 0.5 mg/L; upper limit of nitrate range, 60 mg/L; temperature, 22 °C; pH, 7.65; dissolved oxygen 100 %)
Tissue Wipes	Kimberly-Clark Professional	#21905-026
ZIRC E2 Embryo Media			15 mM NaCl, 0.5 mM KCl, 1.0 mM MgSO4, 150 µM KH2PO4, 50 µM Na2HPO4, 1.0 mM CaCl2, 0.7 mM NaHCO3. Adjust pH to 7.2 to 7.4 using 2 N hydrochloric acid. Filter sterilize. Stored at room temperature for a maximum of two weeks.