title: Contribution of blastoderm cells to Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)-Peking duck (Anas platyrhynchos) chimeras.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to produce quail-duck chimeras by transferring stage X blastoderm cells and to detect the distribution of donor cells in heterogeneous embryos using PCR. Four experimental groups were made by transferring different amounts of quail blastoderm cells into duck recipients. In early embryonic stages, donor cells labeled with PKH26 fluorescent dye were observed in the head, neural tube and gonads by fluorescent microscopy. A total of 194 duck recipient embryos were injected and 93 survived to hatch. The average hatching rate was 48% (93/194); the hatching rate showed a significant difference among all the groups (P < 0.05). Sixteen somatic chimeras were obtained, 10 of which had black feathers derived from the donor quail. The PCR results showed that donor cells were distributed in various tissues and organs of the phenotypic chimeras. This is the first report on producing Japanese quail-Peking duck chimeras by transferring quail blastoderm cells into the subgerminal cavity of the duck. This technique will provide a basis for the investigation of fertilization barriers in interspecies germline chimeras and will aid conservation of endangered wild birds.
authors: State Key Laboratories for Agrobiotechnology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Biological Science, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors: Junshuang
authors: J
authors: Gao
authors: Fang
authors: F
authors: Yuan
authors: Xiaoyan
authors: X
authors: Tang
authors: Haitang
authors: H
authors: Han
authors: Jin
authors: J
authors: Sha
authors: Jihong
authors: J
authors: Yuan
authors: Yujing
authors: Y
authors: Shao
authors: Xiumei
authors: X
authors: Jin
authors: Haiwen
authors: H
authors: Liu
authors: Lei
authors: L
authors: Rui
authors: Zandong
authors: Z
authors: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001756:Blastoderm / Q000166:cytology* / Q000637:transplantation*; D003370:Coturnix / Q000196:embryology*; D004372:Ducks / Q000196:embryology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018183:Transplantation Chimera