Outreach & Communities
Despite massive diversity in species, scope, and scale all aquatic user communities need to characterize, protect, distribute, and utilize genetic resources. Our team works as partners to develop tailored solutions with each community.
The AGGRC, though its network development and outreach program, strives to facilitate the integration of communities around genetic resources preservation and utilization. The program is based on the establishment of a centralized, comprehensive unit or Hub, for repository development. AGGRC provides information and support in pathway development, from sample collection to documentation for repositories. An integrated approach will lead to a greater reproducibility and integration in the management of genetic resources for each of the target communities.
To realize the full potential of germplasm repositories, active participation of all stakeholders is necessary. This program is oriented towards the interaction with different genetic resources users’ communities, to explore their needs and possible solutions, and to create an environment where the exchange between the users inside and out of their own community is facilitated. As part of the development of these interactions, we envision open learning channels for our different users’ communities.
The AGGRC continuously develop and deliver community services, training programs, instructional videos, open-source hardware, device information, databasing templates and beta testing programs. Training curriculum is delivered at the center, at external locations, or over the internet, depending on the users’ needs.
Biomedical
The biomedical community is represented by the five NIH-funded National Stock Centers of aquatic animal models: Zebrafish International Resource center (ZIRC), National Xenopus Resource (NXR), Ambystoma Genetic Stock Center (AGSC), Xiphophorus Genetic Stock Center (XGSC) and National Resource for Aplysia (NRA). These centers interact regularly with their user communities, and provide biological material for research and education. We are working to help each center develop their own repository capabilities that can be integrated with the other centers to form an NIH aquatic biomedical model repository network coordinated through cooperation with USDA-NAGP and the AGGRC.
Repositories
Whether they are called biobanks, gene banks, or frozen zoos, repository development is at the core of the AGGRC mission. Facilitating integration among repositories of different communities with the USDA National Animal Germplasm Program (NAGP) located in Ft. Collins, Colorado will support important activities such as standardization, quality management and database compliance methods. The NAGP operates under the Agricultural Research Service of USDA and maintains genetic resources for livestock, aquatic, and poultry industries within a comprehensive database.
Harmonization of the information from other repositories before submission to NAGP will support efficient use of time and resources, and provide samples that will maintain their usability for years to come.
Conservation
It is currently estimated that more than 90% of all marine species have not been described. The Ocean Biodiversity Information system reports more than 155,000 oceanic species. Additionally, more than 125,000 freshwater species are known. Forty percent of North America freshwater species have become imperiled, and in the last century 57 species in these habitats have become extinct and globally, 10,000-20,000 are imperiled or extinct.
Although species with high visibility have been the object of important conservation efforts, with millions of dollars and innumerable hours devoted to their preservation, it is unlikely that all species currently threatened can be maintained before they become extinct. This would represent the loss of genetic variability and resources that are useful to maintain equilibrium and diversity in the environment, and provide resources currently unknown such as biomedical, nutraceutical and industrial products of the future.
Germplasm repositories can reduce the risk of losing genetic resources, at a cost much lower than live cultures can provide. Cryopreservation also allows live conservation entities, such as aquariums and parks, to recover genetic diversity in response to disease outbreaks or system failures.
Aquaculture
The species used in aquaculture production, are currently maintained as live animals in individual production units. Improved genetics obtained through selective breeding can be lost through disease outbreaks, environmental conditions, equipment failures, and operation breakdowns.
Cryopreservation has been used for decades in the livestock industry, with results valued in billions of dollars worldwide. This strategy has not been adopted in the aquatic species production, where the biological variability, the need for relatively large number of animals, and the diverse structure across aquaculture industries does not allow for a single preservation protocol. Nonetheless, the development of a standardized pathway, can allow customization of protocols, while maintaining a common cryopreservation strategy with adequate quality control.
Development of pathways and techniques will allow this sector to protect their investment in genetic improvement with locally maintained repositories, or by depositing samples at the USDA National Animal Germplasm Program. It will also provide the means to reduce the number of broodstock animals maintained, reducing operating costs while allowing for selection of desirable traits for years to come.
Industry
Use of genetic resources is well known in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, biotechnology, food, and beverage industries. For the most part, these industries are focused on land-based resources. With the renewed interest in bioderived ingredients, the pressure to discover and develop new biological resources has increased. Industries invest billions of dollars in development of valuable genetics for improved feedstocks and products. Repositories for these resources, in the form of cryopreserved material, will protect against loss due to catastrophic events. These industries can benefit from repositories developed by other groups including conservation, aquaculture, and biomedical researchers.
Education and Training
With respect to repositories there is large unmet need to provide education and training across the full spectrum of activities ranging from reproductive biology, cryopreservation protocol development, small-scale application to commercial development. We address these needs through training materials, learning management systems, workshops, scientific visits, seminars, videos, and publications. These activities must be equally accessible to novices and experts. Our education and training is intended to support existing programs and agencies, as well as helping to shape future members of these communities.
Fisheries
Wild fisheries have provided food and livelihoods for humans for centuries. These fisheries are now threatened by overharvest, climate change, and pollution. Large investments are made to operate hatcheries that produce replacement animals to replenish natural stocks. It is often a challenge to match the genetic makeup of the hatchery animals with that found in the natural environment. Cryopreserved sperm offers a selection of genetic material to ensure the health of wild fisheries. For example, Louisianians have been harvesting oysters along the coast for hundreds of years. Recent problems with diseases and low salinity have damaged populations. The use of cryopreserved sperm in hatcheries can protect against the loss of genetic diversity to protect Louisiana oysters and the way of life of the people who harvest them.
Food Security and Economic Development
Farm-raised and wild-caught fish and shellfish provide essential sources of protein and livelihoods for billions of people around the world. The continued supply of these animals is jeopardized by increasing human population, higher rate of consumption, disease, climate change, loss of genetic diversity, and cost of production. The availability of cryopreserved sperm distributed through germplasm repositories can be used to address many of these problems by increasing efficiency of production and reducing genetic losses. For example, in Bangladesh farmed fish are mostly grown for local consumption to replace declining captures from damaged natural populations. Moreover, the hatcheries that produce seedstock for farms often have a high rate of inbreeding resulting in low productivity and higher cost for growers. We are working with Bangladesh Agricultural University to develop cryopreservation as a tool to import genetic material to improve hatchery production. This provides economic development for hatcheries and fish farmers while helping to ensure a supply of low-cost protein for local people.
Biomedical
The biomedical community is represented by the five NIH-funded National Stock Centers of aquatic animal models: Zebrafish International Resource center (ZIRC), National Xenopus Resource (NXR), Ambystoma Genetic Stock Center (AGSC), Xiphophorus Genetic Stock Center (XGSC) and National Resource for Aplysia (NRA). These centers interact regularly with their user communities, and provide biological material for research and education. We are working to help each center develop their own repository capabilities that can be integrated with the other centers to form an NIH aquatic biomedical model repository network coordinated through cooperation with USDA-NAGP and the AGGRC.
Repositories
Whether they are called biobanks, gene banks, or frozen zoos, repository development is at the core of the AGGRC mission. Facilitating integration among repositories of different communities with the USDA National Animal Germplasm Program (NAGP) located in Ft. Collins, Colorado will support important activities such as standardization, quality management and database compliance methods. The NAGP operates under the Agricultural Research Service of USDA and maintains genetic resources for livestock, aquatic, and poultry industries within a comprehensive database.
Harmonization of the information from other repositories before submission to NAGP will support efficient use of time and resources, and provide samples that will maintain their usability for years to come.
Conservation
It is currently estimated that more than 90% of all marine species have not been described. The Ocean Biodiversity Information system reports more than 155,000 oceanic species. Additionally, more than 125,000 freshwater species are known. Forty percent of North America freshwater species have become imperiled, and in the last century 57 species in these habitats have become extinct and globally, 10,000-20,000 are imperiled or extinct.
Although species with high visibility have been the object of important conservation efforts, with millions of dollars and innumerable hours devoted to their preservation, it is unlikely that all species currently threatened can be maintained before they become extinct. This would represent the loss of genetic variability and resources that are useful to maintain equilibrium and diversity in the environment, and provide resources currently unknown such as biomedical, nutraceutical and industrial products of the future.
Germplasm repositories can reduce the risk of losing genetic resources, at a cost much lower than live cultures can provide. Cryopreservation also allows live conservation entities, such as aquariums and parks, to recover genetic diversity in response to disease outbreaks or system failures.
Aquaculture
The species used in aquaculture production, are currently maintained as live animals in individual production units. Improved genetics obtained through selective breeding can be lost through disease outbreaks, environmental conditions, equipment failures, and operation breakdowns.
Cryopreservation has been used for decades in the livestock industry, with results valued in billions of dollars worldwide. This strategy has not been adopted in the aquatic species production, where the biological variability, the need for relatively large number of animals, and the diverse structure across aquaculture industries does not allow for a single preservation protocol. Nonetheless, the development of a standardized pathway, can allow customization of protocols, while maintaining a common cryopreservation strategy with adequate quality control.
Development of pathways and techniques will allow this sector to protect their investment in genetic improvement with locally maintained repositories, or by depositing samples at the USDA National Animal Germplasm Program. It will also provide the means to reduce the number of broodstock animals maintained, reducing operating costs while allowing for selection of desirable traits for years to come.
Industry
Use of genetic resources is well known in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, biotechnology, food, and beverage industries. For the most part, these industries are focused on land-based resources. With the renewed interest in bioderived ingredients, the pressure to discover and develop new biological resources has increased. Industries invest billions of dollars in development of valuable genetics for improved feedstocks and products. Repositories for these resources, in the form of cryopreserved material, will protect against loss due to catastrophic events. These industries can benefit from repositories developed by other groups including conservation, aquaculture, and biomedical researchers.
Education and Training
With respect to repositories there is large unmet need to provide education and training across the full spectrum of activities ranging from reproductive biology, cryopreservation protocol development, small-scale application to commercial development. We address these needs through training materials, learning management systems, workshops, scientific visits, seminars, videos, and publications. These activities must be equally accessible to novices and experts. Our education and training is intended to support existing programs and agencies, as well as helping to shape future members of these communities.
Fisheries
Wild fisheries have provided food and livelihoods for humans for centuries. These fisheries are now threatened by overharvest, climate change, and pollution. Large investments are made to operate hatcheries that produce replacement animals to replenish natural stocks. It is often a challenge to match the genetic makeup of the hatchery animals with that found in the natural environment. Cryopreserved sperm offers a selection of genetic material to ensure the health of wild fisheries. For example, Louisianians have been harvesting oysters along the coast for hundreds of years. Recent problems with diseases and low salinity have damaged populations. The use of cryopreserved sperm in hatcheries can protect against the loss of genetic diversity to protect Louisiana oysters and the way of life of the people who harvest them.
Food Security and Economic Development
Farm-raised and wild-caught fish and shellfish provide essential sources of protein and livelihoods for billions of people around the world. The continued supply of these animals is jeopardized by increasing human population, higher rate of consumption, disease, climate change, loss of genetic diversity, and cost of production. The availability of cryopreserved sperm distributed through germplasm repositories can be used to address many of these problems by increasing efficiency of production and reducing genetic losses. For example, in Bangladesh farmed fish are mostly grown for local consumption to replace declining captures from damaged natural populations. Moreover, the hatcheries that produce seedstock for farms often have a high rate of inbreeding resulting in low productivity and higher cost for growers. We are working with Bangladesh Agricultural University to develop cryopreservation as a tool to import genetic material to improve hatchery production. This provides economic development for hatcheries and fish farmers while helping to ensure a supply of low-cost protein for local people.
Outreach Capabilities
Digital Media Studio
Clear illustration of ideas is crucial to communicating complex scientific or technical information. The Digital Media Studio is a major part of the AGGRC’s outreach strategy and projects by providing photo and video content, as well as graphic design expertise. The studio is also a flexible space that allows scientists and engineers to train with content creation tools and get exposure to methods that can enhance their communication capabilities.
Audio Recording Studio
To support our visual communication efforts, the Digital Media Studio added a sound-proofed recording space. This will allow team members to add clean, professional quality voice-overs to instructional and informational videos.
Learning Management System
The AGGRC uses a learning management system (LMS) to distribute tutorials and other information online. The primary benefit of this format over a simple email or PDF guide is the ability to evaluate comprehension. By testing how well information was conveyed, guides can be continually improved.
Training and Teaching
Video and print guides are created for many of the devices and processes that have been developed at the AGGRC. The Digital Media Studio tools allow the AGGRC to create detailed tutorials to train students or share with collaborators around the world.
On-Site Cryopreservation & Demonstration
A different repository model may involve traveling to various farm sites to freeze samples as opposed to all sample being process in a central repository facility. For this mobile repository model to work, on-site cryopreservation capabilities must exist. The AGGRC has built a mobile cryopreservation laboratory capable of traveling to various locations, and reliably freezing and transporting thousands of samples. This mobile laboratory also serves as a demonstration tool to engage members of the aquaculture industry and show the possibilities of a commercial-scale repository.
Spotlight Species
Ambystoma
Ambystoma mexicanum, otherwise known as the axolotl, is a salamander native to the freshwater Lake Xochimilco in Mexico. Due to water pollution from nearby Mexico City, as well as drought and introduction of invasive species, axolotl numbers have dramatically declined, with an IUCN red list classification of Critically Endangered. Despite this, the ease of husbandry and breeding, as well as it’s regenerative abilities, has made the axolotl a popular biomedical model organism, used routinely to investigate heart defects and treatments for spinal cord and limb injuries.
Aplysia
Comprised of nine ganglia (bundles of neuronal bodies) the Aplysia nervous system is well characterized and mapped. This means that researchers know where each neuron travels to in the body and the bodily functions that are controlled. You might think of this level of understanding like knowing which light switch turns on a certain light and knowing exactly where the electrical wires travel through the walls.
Xenopus
Xenopus laevis and X. tropicalis are widely used in laboratories worldwide as tools to investigate both normal and disease-state biochemistry, genetics, cell biology and developmental biology with close to 15,000 studies published every year using these species.
Xiphophorus
Xiphophorus fishes have been used as a vertebrate experimental model for fundamental biomedical research for over 80 years. Xiphophorus is an important model used by scientists worldwide to study cancers, such as Melanoma. In addition, Xiphophorus fishes are actively used in many diverse fields of study including; evolution, behavior, basic physiology, comparative biochemistry and genomics, sex determination, development, endocrinology, ethology and behavioral ecology, toxicology, parasitology, and immunology. The Xiphophorus genus is represented by 27 species of new world, live-bearing fishes that are popular in the aquaria trade, commonly called “platyfish” or “swordtails”. The unique value of Xiphophorus lies in the species richness (27 taxa) and the morphological variation among the species having original collection sites ranging from northern Mexico, south across the isthmus into Guatemala and Belize. Although several valuable and informative oviparous aquaria fish research models are available (e.g., medaka, Fundulus, zebrafish, etc.) the unique biology of Xiphophorus as new world, live-bearing fishes capable of fertile interspecies hybridization between well-characterized and inbred lines, sets Xiphophorus fishes apart from all others.
Zebrafish
Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a tropical and subtropical cyprinid species with origins ranging from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar. They have adapted to a variety of different habitats ranging from rivers, small streams, channels, stagnant or slow-moving pools. Zebrafish are popular biomedical research tools used by > 1,500 laboratories worldwide. For use in genetic studies as an animal model, zebrafish was initially introduced by Streisinger and colleagues in the early 1980s. Since then, > 50,00 mutation lines have been established. The high level of genome structure shared between zebrafish and humans (~70% of human genes have at least one obvious zebrafish ortholog, compared to 80% of human genes with mouse orthologs) has facilitated the use of zebrafish for understanding human genetic diseases. Zebrafish possess several advantages over rodent models in the study of vertebrate development and disease. These include high fecundity (hundreds of embryos in a single clutch), optical clarity of the developing embryo, low maintenance cost, and short reproduction cycles.