Title
Generation of viable plant-vertebrate chimeras
Date Issued
30 June 2015
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Reynaert N.
Chávez M.N.
Aedo G.
Araya F.
Hopfner U.
Fernández J.
Allende M.L.
Egaña J.T.
Universidad de Chile
Publisher(s)
Public Library of Science
Abstract
The extreme dependence on external oxygen supply observed in animals causes major clinical problems and several diseases are related to low oxygen tension in tissues. The vast majority of the animals do not produce oxygen but a few exceptions have shown that photosynthetic capacity is physiologically compatible with animal life. Such symbiotic photosynthetic relationships are restricted to a few aquatic invertebrates. In this work we aimed to explore if we could create a chimerical organism by incorporating photosynthetic eukaryotic cells into a vertebrate animal model. Here, the microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was injected into zebrafish eggs and the interaction and viability of both organisms were studied. Results show that microalgae were distributed into different tissues, forming a fish-alga chimera organism for a prolonged period of time. In addition, microscopic observation of injected algae, in vivo expression of their mRNA and re-growth of the algae ex vivo suggests that they survived to the developmental process, living for several days after injection. Moreover microalgae did not trigger a significant inflammatory response in the fish. This work provides additional evidence to support the possibility that photosynthetic vertebrates can be engineered.
Volume
10
Issue
6
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias de las plantas, Botánica
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84938705165
PubMed ID
Source
PLoS ONE
ISSN of the container
19326203
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus