Biotechnological use of germ cells from the commercial flatfish Solea senegalensis

Abstract

Cryopreservation of testicular germ cells offers a tool for the conservation and production of species with potential for aquaculture, due to the capacity of spermatogonia differentiating into gametes. These cellshave the ability to proliferate in a host individual after transplantation producing, in their gonad, functionalgametes depending on the host sex determination (Yoshizaki et al., 2011). Cryopreservation andtransplantation of testicular germ cells have been attempted in several mammalian species (Redden et al., 2009) and more recently in some fish (Takeuchi et al . 2009; Yoshizaki et al., 2011). In the present studycryopreservation protocols were developed for testicular germ cells from Senegalese sole ( Solea senegalensis ), a species with several reproductive problems, with the aim to transplant into newly hatched larvae and testtheir efficiency.