48 JUNE 2022 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG for collection of high-quality eggs. The mission of the AGGRC is a continuation of these efforts and it is devoted to assisting the development of germplasm repositories for aquatic species through interdisciplinary approaches, and comprises four main programs: research, technology development, commercial-scale application and outreach. Research As indicated above, personnel at the AGGRC have performed basic and applied research addressing repository development for hundreds of aquatic species for 30 years. This work has always included major farm-raised species such as catfish and oysters, wild fishery species and imperiled species. It has also included animals that are used for research on human disease. Animals such as monkeys, dogs, rabbits, rats and mice share genetic traits with humans and have been used to advance human medicine for the past century. However, working with these animals is very expensive and often requires whole buildings with large staffs. In addition, social changes have made working with mammals diversity of wild fishery populations and imperiled species can also be protected by cryopreservation. Based on such needs, the Aquatic Germplasm and Genetic Resources Center (AGGRC) was created in 2015 at the former DIC (Fig. 1). The DIC facility became available at that time because, over the decades, the focus of dairy breeding shifted from university research farms to the private sector and Dairy Science faculty retired or moved their work onto the LSU campus. Because of previous work there, Tiersch’s group moved from the Aquaculture Research Station (LSUAC-ARS) to continue the legacy of germplasm protection by converting the facility from dairy bulls to work with finfish, shellfish and other aquatic species (Fig. 2). Work at the LSUAC-ARS included more than two decades of research on many dozens of species of fish and shellfish relevant to aquaculture, with the intention of bringing genetic improvement and highthroughput gene banking into real-world application. This included development of strategies for thermal management of catfish broodstock ponds to control and expand the spawning period, and the use of ultrasound to increase the efficiency of hormone injection FIGURE 4. Innovative technologies are developed at the AGGRC in the form of open hardware that can be shared as computer files with user communities to support use of germplasm repositories. Some examples of these devices include simple loops made with 3-D printing to provide ultra-rapid freezing (vitrification) that can be used with standard cryopreservation straws (A) and vials (B). Standardized freezing can be produced for use in the field with a 3-D printed “Cajun Ejector” (C) and liquid nitrogen shipping containers. Samples can also be frozen individually with a conveyer belt device (D). To use cryopreserved samples with fishes that produce live young (e.g., relatives of guppies) an artificial insemination device (E) was developed to control sample pressure and volume. Customized printed-circuit boards (PCB) have been developed to monitor ice formation by use of electrical signals (e.g., resistance) during freezing and thawing (F). A system that measures and controls chemical concentrations for cryopreservation (G) was developed to enable high-throughput sample processing for large-scale application. Microfluidic systems (often referred to as “laboratory-on-a-chip”) for use on a microscope were developed to help community-level standardization in evaluation of spermmotility (H) and concentration (I). Computer machine learning (Artificial Intelligence) technologies (J) were developed to classify ultrasound images of channel catfish ovaries to help fish hatcheries decide whether to inject an expensive spawning hormone. Different colors show which regions of the ovary that were recognized by the computer to classify ovaries (the red-yellow area shows eggs ready for fertilization).
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