Establishment of immortalized primary cell from the critically endangered Bonin flying fox (Pteropus pselaphon)

PLoS One. 2019 Aug 26;14(8):e0221364. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221364. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The Bonin flying fox (Pteropus pselaphon) is one of the most critically endangered species of animals. The number of this species is estimated to be around 150; being classified at the top rank in the list by International Union of Animal Conservation. Our group previously showed that expression of CDK4, CYCLIN D1, and telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) efficiently induce immortalization of human, bovine, swine, monkey, and buffalo-derived cells. In this manuscript, we successfully established the primary cells from Bonin flying fox. We introduced CDK4, CYCLIN D1, and TERT into the primary cells. The established cells showed efficient expression of introduced genes at the protein level. Furthermore, the established cells were free from senescence, indicating it reached to immortalization. Moreover, we showed that interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer of Bonin flying fox derived cell into bovine embryo allowed the development of the embryo to 8 cell stages. Our established cell has the potential to contribute to species conservation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Line / cytology*
  • Chiroptera*
  • Embryo, Mammalian / cytology*
  • Endangered Species
  • Humans
  • Primary Cell Culture / methods*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Japan Society for the promotion of science (JSPS) KAKENHI (Grant number, 17H05810). This project is supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, and research grant from Waksman Foundation of Japan inc. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.