Establishing a model fish for the Neotropical region: The case of the yellowtail tetra Astyanax altiparanae in advanced biotechnology

Abstract

The use of model organisms is important for basic and applied sciences. Several laboratory species of fishes are used to develop advanced technologies, such as the zebrafish (Danio rerio), the medaka (Oryzias latipes), and loach species (Misgurnus spp.). However, the application of these exotic species in the Neotropical region is limited due to differences in environmental conditions and phylogenetic distances. This situation emphasizes the establishment of a model organism specifically for the Neotropical region with the development of techniques that may be applicable to other Neotropical fish species. In this work, the previous research efforts are described in order to establish the yellowtail tetra Astyanax altiparanae as a model laboratory species for both laboratory and aquaculture purposes. Over the last decade, starting with artificial fertilization, the yellowtail tetra has become a laboratory organism for advanced biotechnology, such as germ cell transplantation, chromosome set manipulation, and other technologies, with applications in aquaculture and conservation of genetic resources. Nowadays, the yellowtail tetra is considered the most advanced fish with respect to fish biotechnology within the Neotropical region. The techniques developed for this species are being used in other related species, especially within the characins class.

Characterization of the migratory pattern of Primordial Germ Cells in three neotropical fish species aiming genetic conservation actions

“…However, in the Neotropical region, species of importance for the economy such as Prochilodus lineatus (Reis et al 2016) or for basic and applied science such as Astyanax altiparanae (Yasui et al 2015(Yasui et al , 2022) have a more detailed biological description (De Souza et al 2015;Yasui et al 2020b). For example, A. altiparanae or yellow-tailed tetra, showed characteristics that facilitate its handling in the laboratory, such as a small size of 4-15 cm, remarkable fecundity (Yasui et al 2022) with spawning several times a year (Sato et al 2006)and omnivorous feeding habit that allow it to adapt to commercial feeding (Bertolini et al 2018), contributed to the yellow-tail tetra becoming an emerging model in studies such as chromosome manipulation (Adamov et al 2017; Nascimento et al 2020), cryopreservation (Yasui et al 2020a) among others (Rocha et al, 2023, Fernandes et al 2019.…”