Producing Coral Offspring with Cryopreserved Sperm: A Tool for Coral Reef Restoration

Sci Rep. 2017 Oct 31;7(1):14432. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-14644-x.

Abstract

Cryopreservation is an important conservation tool, which may help reef-building coral survive. However, scaling-up from small, laboratory-sized experiments to higher-throughput restoration is a major challenge. To be an effective restoration tool, the cryopreservation methods and husbandry to produce new offspring must be defined. This study examined small and larger-scale in vitro reproduction and settlement for Acropora tenuis and Acropora millepora and found that: 1) cryopreservation of coral sperm reduced sperm motility and fertilization success in half, thus fresh sperm, capable of becoming highly motile, is key; 2) the sperm-to-egg ratio and the concentration of the cryoprotectant treatments affected fertilization success in small- and larger-scale reproduction trials using cryopreserved sperm (p < 0.05); 3) cryopreservation did not affect settlement success, as larvae produced with fresh or cryopreserved sperm had the same settlement success (p > 0.05); and 4) the residence time of the sperm within the bank was not important as the fertilization success of sperm frozen for less than 1 month was similar to that frozen up to 2 years (p > 0.05). These results described the first settlement for coral larvae produced from cryopreserved sperm and established important ground-work principles for the use of cryopreserved coral sperm for future reef restoration efforts.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anthozoa / growth & development*
  • Anthozoa / physiology*
  • Conservation of Natural Resources
  • Coral Reefs
  • Cryopreservation / methods*
  • Cryoprotective Agents
  • Fertilization
  • Fertilization in Vitro
  • Male
  • Reproduction
  • Semen Preservation / methods
  • Sperm Motility
  • Spermatozoa

Substances

  • Cryoprotective Agents