Hatching out goldfish from common carp eggs: Interspecific androgenesis between two cyprinid species

Abstract

We have successfully performed interspecific androgenesis between two cyprinid species. Gamma-ray irradiated eggs of common carp were fertilized with fresh and cryopreserved sperm of three different goldfish varieties and the haploid embryos were then heat-shocked to restore diploidy and to produce viable offspring. Androgenic diploid goldfish progenies from over a dozen different experiments were screened for four phenotypic markers several times. Color and other phenotypic markers characteristic of goldfish were found exclusively among androgenetic goldfish progenies; no markers originating from common carp were detected in over 1503 individuals investigated visually. RAPD assay was used to compare the parents and the offspring at the genomic level. The RAPD pattern of the androgenetic goldfish contained exclusively paternal bands, thereby confirming the results of the phenotypic analysis. According to our knowledge, this is the first successful interspecific androgenesis performed with two different species resulting in viable offspring.