Sampling
Sampling Expedition
To sample wild Medaka to establish the inbred panel, Thomas Auer and Mikhail Spivakov joined the Naruse lab in a fishing expedition. The Kiyosu population was sampled at a location in Kiyosu, Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture , with GPS coordinates: 34.780885° N, 137.347818° E. The Takashi Hongo population was sampled 8.4 km (5.2 miles) to the southeast at 34.715135° N, 137.392623° E. We analysed the mitotype of 109 and 50 individuals from each site, respectively, and identified a Norhtern Medaka mitotype in the Takshi Hongo population consistent with human mediated dispersal. Therefore we decided to focus on the Kiyosu population. Sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome B gene, microsatellite analysis and high throughput sequencing indicated that the Kiyosu population had characteristics suitable for founding the inbred genetic reference panel.
Locations of the Medaka sampling sites in Japan. Click on the site names to locate the sites.
Tetsuaki Kimura, Eri Sumiya, Yusuke Takehana, Ikumi Hirakawa, Saki Tohyama, Tomas Auer and Mikhail Spivakov fishing.
Tall Tales
The international collaboration invovled in collecting the fish produced, as might be expected, some fantastic fisherman's tales:
Tomas Auer gets some net action.
Tetsuaki Kimura and Kiyoshi Naruse get started. Or maybe they're finishing?
Prime medaka fishing waters.
- All the fish in the initial Takashi Hongo area were orange-red medaka, probably a commercial strain from fish shops. Turns out people in Japan like to release medaka in the wild as it's a symbol of nature's purity. So we had to go to a slightly grim-looking rice paddy off a main road to collect the wild fish.
- Mikhail Spivakov recalls: "On my first fishing trip some researchers from NIBB were telling me about the ghosts that visited them and how purging the ghosts helped their friends publish in Science. I'm pretty sure they were making fun of me, a humble gaijin."
There must be something in there!
Any fish?
Gone fishing.