Cryogenics hope in saving amphibians
FROZEN ZOOS
A CAIRNS scientist has found a breakthrough method of cryogenically freezing frog cells and then thawing them so they can be used to breed threatened species of amphibians.
University of Melbourne researcher Dr Richard Mollard, who also runs his own company Amphicell, has successfully demonstrated that amphibian tissue can be cultured and stored in a cryobank, so it can be later used in invitro fertilisation (IVF) and cloning.
Cryobanks are used to preserve animal species that are in danger of going extinct, however there are challenges in using the material that has been cryogenically stored to revive threatened populations.
Dr Mollard, in a study soon to be published in scientific journal Cryobiology, has found that Australian native frog cells can be thawed using his unique cryogenic procedure, while still retaining their normal state.
“This means cells can be preserved in a form that is potentially useful for assisted reproductive technologies, including IVF and cloning,” he said.
“So, if there’s a threatened frog species, like the Kuranda tree frog, then I can take a small amount of tissue from a sick or injured individual frog, that is about to be put down, and save their cells by doing this procedure.
“Then, in the future, we could use these cells to make new frogs to repopulate the rainforest.”
Amphibians are under threat worldwide from a range of pressures, including disease caused by chytrid fungus.
Globally, there are about 950 species of amphibians at immediate risk of extinction and limited resources for captive breeding programs for an estimated 5 per cent of these species.
Dr Mollard said cryobanking cells from species of frogs at risk of extinction would help safeguard populations of the amphibians for the future.
“If frogs in captive breeding programs get a virus or chytrid fungal infection, they can be wiped out,” he said.
“Captive breeding programs can also create bottlenecks in genetic diversity because of inbreeding. So animals die.
“But if 10 generations later, if we can breed a frog with a cloned or IVF frog from the cryobanked founder population, we can reintroduce the genetic diversity to safeguard against bottlenecks.”
Earlier this week, the last male northern white rhinoceros died in Kenya, leaving only two females alive.
Dr Mollard said his cryobanking procedure could be applicable to other animal species in danger of extinction.
“We could also use this for large mammals, reptiles, birds – frogs are a starting point,” he said. A 39-YEAR-OLD Cow Bay man has died following a single vehicle crash at Miallo, about 4km north of Mossman.
Initial investigations indicate about 11.10am yesterday a car travelling north along Mossman Daintree Road veered off and crashed into trees just after Newell Road.
The driver of the vehicle received serious injuries as a result and was declared dead at the scene.
Forensic Crash Unit officers are investigating.