文昌鱼的实验室繁育及子二代获得

文昌鱼特殊的进化地位、简单的器官系统和终生透明的躯体等特征，使其很有希望成为一个新型实验室模式动物。要实现文昌鱼的模式动物化，实验室内全人工条件下繁殖是关键的第一步。为此，我们于2003年9月和2004年4月两次采集产于厦门海域的2种文昌鱼，开展实验室内养殖研究。经过3年多的持续实验室养殖，继2005年夏季于实验室内繁殖出子一代文昌鱼后，又在2006年夏季成功获得了这两种文昌鱼的子二代，初步实现文昌鱼在实验室内的全人工养殖。对子代文昌鱼养殖的初步观察发现，不同水温对生长发育速度有一定影响，提示有可能通过水温控制实现文昌鱼一年多次产卵的目的。目前这两种文昌鱼子二代幼体已完成变态，进入亚成体生长发育阶段，其体长分别已达14.6 mm(日本文昌鱼Branchiostoma japonicum)和6.5 mm(白氏文昌鱼B. belcheri)。     

野生动物繁殖保护动态

△青岛文昌鱼人工培育获成功中国科学院海洋研究所对文昌鱼室内产卵、孵化和幼体培育的研究获得成功,这一成果已达国际先进水平。这对挽救这一珍稀海洋动物资源,为今后建立保护区以及养殖开发具有重要意义。     

白氏文昌鱼单个体基因组BAC文库的构建

隶属于头索动物亚门的文昌鱼是现存生物中最近似于脊椎动物亚门直接祖先的一个类群, 具有重要的进化地位, 是研究脊椎动物原始祖先的重要材料和模式动物。随着文昌鱼实验室连续繁殖的成功, 全基因组测序成为中国文昌鱼模式化急需完成的工作之一。文章从单条雄性白氏文昌鱼精巢组织中提取高质量的基因组DNA, 经EcoRⅠ限制性内切酶和EcoRⅠ甲基化酶酶切, 脉冲场电泳选择合适酶切DNA片段, 连接线性磷酸化的载体pCC1BAC, 转化大肠杆菌EPI300 E. coli, 构建了含有44 706个克隆的全基因组BAC( Bacterial artificial chromosome)文库, 该文库平均插入片段80 kb,具有9倍的基因组覆盖率, 基本能够满足功能基因等研究需要, 为中国文昌鱼全基因组测序打下基础。     

文昌鱼左右体轴建立机制的研究进展

两侧对称动物左右体轴建立机制研究是发育生物学领域重要的基础科学问题之一。文昌鱼(amphioxus)由于其特殊的进化地位以及与脊椎动物相似的胚胎发育模式和身体构筑方式,是研究动物左右体轴建立机制的理想模式物种。近年来随着文昌鱼室内全人工繁育技术、高效显微注射技术和基因敲除技术的建立,国内外学者在左右体轴建立机制研究上取得了丰硕的成果。本文从文昌鱼胚胎左右不对称发育特点出发,总结了近期文昌鱼左右体轴建立方面取得的研究进展,并提出了文昌鱼左右体轴调控网络图:纤毛运动导致Hh蛋白在文昌鱼中不对称分布(L相似文献   

基于COXI基因的太平洋西岸文昌鱼地理种群分析

文昌鱼是进化发育研究的重要模式动物,目前实验材料均采自野外.因此,对其进行正确的物种鉴定和地理种群的遗传分化分析十分必要.该研究扩增并测定了COX 1基因部分序列,结合NCBI数据库中的COX 1序列信息,对太平洋西岸文昌鱼的种类和地理种群分化情况进行了分析.结果表明,马来文昌鱼(Branchiostoma malayanum)、白氏文昌鱼(B.belcheri)和日本文昌鱼(B.japonicum)这3个种之间的遗传差异很大,再次证实3个物种的有效性,同时提出应当审慎对待NCBI数据库中文昌鱼的种名标注;太平洋西岸文昌鱼属Branchiostoma的3种文昌鱼群体遗传多样性均处于较高水平,同一物种的不同地理种群间没有出现明显的遗传分化,反映了海洋动物的基因交流较容易,不同海域隔离较弱.     

昌黎海区文昌鱼初步调查

描述了秦皇岛昌黎海区文昌鱼栖息的自然生态环境,测定了文昌鱼的种群结构、生物学特征等,并进一步对秦皇岛文昌鱼的分类地位进行了研究。结果认为,秦皇岛文昌鱼与厦门文昌鱼及青岛文昌鱼同属于一个种,从亲缘关系上,秦皇岛文昌鱼与青岛文昌鱼要更近些。     

厦门两种文昌鱼染色体的制备与观察(英文）

文昌鱼的进化地位十分重要,对其染色体的研究在进化和比较基因组学方面有重要意义。然而文昌鱼的染色体制备困难,使研究受到了限制。本文介绍了一种改良的文昌鱼胚胎细胞染色体标本制备方法,以及用文昌鱼成体再生细胞制备染色体,首次获得了文昌鱼体细胞中期染色体标本,并观察了厦门2种文昌鱼的染色体,其中白氏文昌鱼（Branchiostoma belcheri）二倍体2n=40,日本文昌鱼（B. japonicum）二倍体2n=36。再次从细胞分类学角度证实白氏文昌鱼和日本文昌鱼作为两个独立物种的分类地位。     

文昌鱼全同胞家系建立及早期发育模式与仔鱼存活率的关系

2011年3月9日—5月19日,以厦门海域采集的野生个体和实验室繁育的日本文昌鱼成体为亲本,尝试性地建立了全同胞家系;采用温度和光照诱导的方法,对雌、雄亲本进行人工催产,获得了34对亲本的全同胞家系受精卵。在家系培育过程中发现致使胚胎和仔鱼死亡的几种主要原因,以及日本文昌鱼早期发育的两种模式。通过加强养护管理,提高仔鱼存活率,缩短幼体变态所需时间,最终建立了7个完成变态的全同胞家系。在这些家系中,从受精卵到完成变态后不久的亚成体存活率最高为32.4%,最低为1.67%,而变态最快历时24 d,最慢历时42 d。虽然在全同胞家系建立过程中,幼体死亡率高,家系间的胚胎和幼体生长发育状况差异大,但实验结果表明日本文昌鱼全同胞家系建立完全可行,为其优良品系选育建立了基础。     

文昌鱼分类学研究及展望

文昌鱼是最接近脊椎动物直接祖先的现生动物,在脊椎动物起源与演化研究中占有极其重要的位置。近年来,对文昌鱼的研究已引起越来越多的科学家的兴趣,然而作为生命科学研究的重要基础,这类动物的分类学研究相对滞后。依据已有的中国文昌鱼资源调查资料,中国沿海文昌鱼的分布应当十分广泛,即只要有适合文昌鱼栖息的沙滩,均有文昌鱼分布的可能。根据目前的分类学研究成果和动物命名法中的优先权原则,建议将产于青岛等地的文昌鱼种名Brnachiostoma belcheri tsingtauense订正为B.japonicus,南方的文昌鱼保留其原种名B.belcheri。由此,目前分布在中国沿海的鳃口文昌鱼属(Branchiostoma)至少有2种,侧殖文昌鱼属(Epigonichthys)有1～3种,漂浮文昌鱼(Amphioxides pelagicus)1种。DNA分子标记技术在文昌鱼分类学研究中将会发挥更大的作用。     

厦门两种文昌鱼染色体的制备与观察

文吕鱼的进化地位十分重要,对其染色体的研究在进化和比较基因组学方面有重要意义.然而文昌鱼的染色体制备困难,使研究受到了限制.本文介绍了一种改良的义昌鱼胚胎细胞染色体标本制备方法,以及用文昌鱼成体再生细胞制备染色体,首次获得了文昌鱼体细胞中期染色体标本,并观察了厦门2种文昌鱼的染色体,其中白氏文吕鱼(Branchiostoma belcheri)二倍体2n=40,日本文昌鱼(B.japonicum)二倍体2n=36.再次从细胞分类学角度证实白氏文昌鱼和日本文昌鱼作为两个独立物种的分类地位.     

Continuous culture of two lancelets and production of the second filial generations in the laboratory

The lancelet is considered to be a promising laboratory model animal. To establish laboratory colonies of lancelet, we collected parental lancelets of Branchiostoma belcheri and B. japonicum (previously named as B. belcheri tsingtauense) with fully developed gonads from Xiamen Rare Marine Creature Conservation Areas (Fujian, China) on dates just before their spawning in the field in 2005. Those parental lancelets spawned spontaneously in the laboratory and produced thousands upon thousands of fertilized eggs. After carefully hatching and maintaining for almost 1 year, we successfully obtained about 500 first generation (F1) adults of B. belcheri and 3,300 of B. japonicum. Part of those F1 lancelets ripened and spontaneously spawned in 2006, and several thousands of second generation (F2) individuals of both species were produced. The young F2 lancelets are growing in good condition and some of B. japonicum initiated gonad development in December, 2006. Our experience emphasizes that cleanness of settlement substratum and sufficient food supply are important factors for long-term culture of lancelets in the laboratory.     

Branchiostoma japonicum and B. belcheri are distinct lancelets (Cephalochordata) in Xiamen waters in China

Lancelets in Xiamen were reported as Branchiostoma belcheri in 1932, and subsequently were believed to comprise a single species. However, recent studies revealed that Xiamen lancelets actually represent two species, B. belcheri and B. japonicum. We observed thousands of lancelets from Xiamen beach to recognize these two species. Our observations showed that at least three morphological characters distinguish them: 1) the rostral fin is slightly round with the end obtuse in B. belcheri but elliptic with the end cuspate in B. japonicum; 2) the number of preanal fin-chambers is more than 80 in B. belcheri but less than 64 in B. japonicum, and the chambers are slender in the former but stout in the latter; 3) the caudal fin of B. belcheri is narrower than that of B. japonicum, and the angle between the dorsal and super-caudal fins, and between preanal and sub-caudal fins, is obtuse in B. belcheri but acute in B. japonicum. We also provide some ecological and distributional evidence to support the conclusion that there are two separate species in Xiamen waters.     

Biology of the amphioxus,Branchiostoma belcheri in the Ariake Sea,Japan I. Population structure and growth

We investigated the population structure and growth of the amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri for four years in the southern Ariake Sea, Japan. We counted 62-66 myotomes and 251-310 dorsal fin-ray chambers, and these results support that this species is an intermediate form of B. belcheri and its subspecies B. belcheri tsingtauense. The ratio of females to males was 1:1.12. Males were more numerous than females among small individuals (< 40 mm body length), but we found no significant differences among large animals (50 mm body length). Spawning occurred from mid June to early July. Groups of newly settled young appeared from January to June of their second year. We observed a large fluctuation between years in the numbers of newly settled young. The estimated size of one-year-old individuals was 19.4 mm in body length; within the next 12 months, they reached 32.1 mm. Three- and four-year-old individuals measured 38.6 mm and 45.8 mm, respectively. Few grew beyond 60 mm; the largest specimen collected was a 64 mm male.     

Preliminary observations on the spawning conditions of the European amphioxus (Branchiostoma lanceolatum) in captivity

Members of the subphylum Cephalochordata, which include the genus Branchiostoma (i.e. amphioxus), represent the closest living invertebrate relatives of the vertebrates. To date, developmental studies have been carried out on three amphioxus species (the European Branchiostoma lanceolatum, the East Asian B. belcheri, and Floridian-Caribbean B. floridae). In most instances, adult animals have been collected from the field during their ripe season and allowed (or stimulated) to spawn in the laboratory. In any given year, dates of laboratory pawning have been limited by two factors. First, natural populations of these three most studied species of amphioxus are ripe, at most, for only a couple of months each year and, second, even when apparently ripe, animals spawn only at unpredictable intervals of every several days. This limited supply of living material hinders the development of amphioxus as a model system because this limitation makes it more difficult to work out protocols for new laboratory techniques. Therefore we are developing laboratory methods for increasing the number of amphioxus spawning dates per year. The present study found that a Mediterranean population of B. lanceolatum living near the Franco-Spanish border spawned naturally at the end of May and again at the end of June in 2003. Re-feeding experiments in the laboratory demonstrated that the gonads emptied at the end of May refilled with gametes by the end of June. We also found that animals with large gonads (both, obtained from the field and kept and fed at the laboratory during several weeks) could be induced to spawn in the laboratory out of phase with the field population if they were temperature shocked (spawning occurred 36 hours after a sustained increase in water temperature from 19 degrees C to 25 degrees C).     

通过Cyt b基因同源序列比较评估厦门文昌鱼的分类学地位

白氏文昌鱼Branchiostomabelcheri (Gray)在我国和日本沿海均有分布 ,由于南、北方文昌鱼形态学上有一定差异 ,且二者间存在一些过渡类型 ,其分类地位问题仍有待进一步澄清。本文测定了厦门欧厝海域产的文昌鱼mtDNACytb基因序列 ,并与日本产的文昌鱼以及另外产于大西洋的两种文昌鱼Cytb基因序列比较。分子系统学分析结果表明 :厦门欧厝海域产的文昌鱼与日本产的文昌鱼平均遗传距离为 2 1 12 % ,达到了种间分化的水平 ;经过对已有文献和文昌鱼地理分布的综合分析 ,作者建议将原来的白氏文昌鱼青岛亚种B belcheritsingtauense提升为种 ,南、北方所产文昌鱼分别作为两个独立的种存在 ,即南方的B belcheri (Gray)和北方的B tsingtauenseTchangetKoo     

Variations in body size of the lancelet Branchiostoma belcheri at different depths in the Seto Inland Sea: effect of food supply on the growth rate

Variations in body size of the suspension-feeding lancelet Branchiostoma belcheri were examined from April 2001 to December 2001 at different water depths of 10-80 m. The lancelets were abundantly collected (220 indiv./dredge) at water depth of 10 m. The maximum size, ranging from 36.8 to 50.4 mm BL, decreased with increasing water depth. However, the minimum size of 7.4-7.8 mm BL, which corresponds to settling size, did not different with water depth. From seasonal changes in the length-frequency histograms, five cohorts were observed at every water depth. The lancelets grew to 44 mm BL at water depths of 10-20 m and to 34 mm BL at water depth of 80 m with four years of life span. Developmental stages of the gonads at an age of two years showed that no individuals had undeveloped gonads at water depth of 10 m, but 82% of them did at water depth of 80 m. The analysis of the stepwise multiple regressions of monthly growth rate on environmental variables showed that chlorophyll a was the best explanatory variable and showed a significant positive correlation with the growth of 1-2 years age groups. These results suggested that variations in the body length were mainly fluctuated by phytoplankton supply.     

Morphological and 12S rRNA gene comparison of two Branchiostoma species in Xiamen waters

Until now all amphioxus living in Xiamen waters have been regarded as Branchiostoma belcheri without any suspicion. However, a study based on Cyt b gene sequence comparisons of Branchiostoma belcheri (Oucuo in Xiamen waters) and Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense (Japanese waters) showed unexpected high divergence suggesting that the taxonomic status of Xiamen amphioxus should be reevaluated. In order to clarify this issue, we collected the animals from two sampling sites (Oucuo and Huangcuo in Xiamen waters), and compared their morphologies (meristic and non-meristic) as well as the complete sequences of their 12S rRNA genes. The samples could be distinguished by six of the non-meristic traits and five of the meristic traits. Moreover, the genetic distance based on 12S rRNA gene between Oucuo and Huangcuo amphioxus is 21.13%, but that between Huangcuo and Japanese amphioxus is only 0.56%. Our results suggest that original subspecies B. belcheri tsingtauense should be elevated to species level, becoming B. tsingtauense. Therefore, two species of genus Branchiostoma are living in Xiamen waters. One is the original species B. belcheri (Oucuo) and the other is B. tsingtauense (Huangcuo).     

Ancient phylogenetic separation between Pacific and Atlantic cephalochordates as revealed by mitochondrial genome analysis

The subphylum Cephalochordata (lancelets) is a relatively small taxonomic group in contrast to the subphyla Urochordata and Vertebrata. As an initial step to determine whether lancelets exhibit small genetic divergence in keeping with their conservative body organization or large genetic variation, four Branchiostoma species from the Pacific (B. belcheri and B. malayanum) and Atlantic (B. floridae and B. lanceolatum) Oceans were genetically compared using partial mitochondrial DNA sequences of the cytochrome oxidase c subunit I (COI) and 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) genes. In both genes, large genetic differences were revealed between the Pacific and Atlantic species, as well as within the former. Two maximum-likelihood trees from the COI and 16S rRNA genes showed that the Pacific and Atlantic lancelets were reciprocally clustered into different clades. Furthermore, both gene trees consistently exhibited deep phylogenetic separation between the two oceans. The estimated divergence time suggested that differentiation may have followed the migration of ancestral lancelets from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans via the Tethys Sea.     

Larval development of the oriental lancelet, Branchiostoma belcheri, in laboratory mass culture

We are successfully maintaining a laboratory colony of the lancelet Branchiostoma belcheri bred in the laboratory. Based on living individuals in this mass culture, morphological characteristics from the seven-day larval to benthic juvenile stages have been studied. Most striking was that later larval development of B. belcheri showed great individual variation even in a rather stable culture environment. Metamorphosis first occurred on 60 days post fertilization (dpf) and was continuously observed throughout the present study up to 100 dpf. Morphological traits such as the number of primary gill slits and body size at the start of metamorphosis are apparently affected by culture condition. Body size measured in the largest individuals showed nearly linear growth at 0.087 mm/day. The variability found in larval development calls for caution when developmental stages and chronological ages are compared between populations. However, the developmental flexibility of this animal also raises the possibility that growth and sexual maturation could be controlled artificially in captivity.