Information for scientists and other professionals

Available zebrafish strains

The following strains are available to all users of the zebrafish core facility. No permit is required. The facility houses approximately 200 additional genetically modified strains which may be available upon request. 

AB 

Wildtype strain. The AB line is derived from two lines, A and B, purchased by Streisinger at different times from a pet shop in Albany, Oregon. The original A and B lines probably originated from a hatchery in Florida. Haploid offspring from individual females of the AB line were screened for healthy, good-looking embryos, and those females were used to make future generations by crossing them to unselected males. The AB line was maintained in this manner by the Oregon labs from the 1970's to the 1990's. This procedure reduced the number of lethal mutations so that this line can be used for parthenogenesis.     

TL 

Wildype line. Homozygous for leot1 and lofdt2. Obtained from a dealer and kept by raising mixed eggs from different egg lays of well-laying females. leot1 is a recessive mutation causing spotting in adult fish, also known as tup. lofdt2 is a dominant homozygous viable mutation causing long fins. This is not the line used in the Sanger zebrafish sequencing project.

Casper 

Zebrafish strain without pigments.

Transparent adult zebrafish as a tool for in vivo transplantation analysis. White RM, Sessa A, Burke C, Bowman T, LeBlanc J, Ceol C, Bourque C, Dovey M, Goessling W, Burns CE, Zon LI
Cell Stem Cell 2008 Feb;2(2):183-9 

Tg(fli1a:EGFP) 

Zebrafish strain in which endothelial cells (blood vessels) are labelled in GFP.

In vivo imaging of embryonic vascular development using transgenic zebrafish.
Lawson ND, Weinstein BM
Dev Biol 2002 Aug;248(2):307-18

Tg(cmlc2:EGFP)

Zebrafish strain in which cardiomyocytes are labelled in GFP. 

Germ-line transmission of a myocardium-specific GFP transgene reveals critical regulatory elements in the cardiac myosin light chain 2 promoter of zebrafish.
Huang CJ, Tu CT, Hsiao CD, Hsieh FJ, Tsai HJ
Dev Dyn 2003 Sep;228(1):30-40

Tg(gata1:dsRed)

Zebrafish strain in which erythrocytes are labelled in dsRed.

Transplantation and in vivo imaging of multilineage engraftment in zebrafish bloodless mutants.
Traver D, Paw BH, Poss KD, Penberthy WT, Lin S, Zon LI
Nat Immunol 2003 Dec;4(12):1238-46

Tg(mpeg1:gal4-UAS:NTR-mCherry) Zebrafish line in which macrophages can be depleted)

Zebrafish strain in which macrophages are labelled with mCherry. Macrophages can specifically be depleted with MTZ. 

Transplantation and in vivo imaging of multilineage engraftment in zebrafish bloodless mutants.
Traver D, Paw BH, Poss KD, Penberthy WT, Lin S, Zon LI
Nat Immunol 2003 Dec;4(12):1238-46

Tg(mpeg1:gal4-UAS:NTR-mCherry) x Tg(mpo:GFP)

Zebrafish strain in which macrophages are labelled with mCherry and neutrophils are labelled with GFP. Macrophages can specifically be depleted with MTZ.

Transplantation and in vivo imaging of multilineage engraftment in zebrafish bloodless mutants.
Traver D, Paw BH, Poss KD, Penberthy WT, Lin S, Zon LI
Nat Immunol 2003 Dec;4(12):1238-46

Tg(mpo:GFP) (zebrafish line expressing GFP in neutrophils)

Zebrafish strain in which neutrophils are labelled with GFP. 

Tg(UAS:GFP;collagen2:mCherry)

Zebrafish strain which constitutively expresses mCherry in the brain and spinal cord; additional expression of GFP when crossed with a line actively expressing Gal4. For screening of Gal4 driver lines.       

General housing conditions

Quarantine procedure

Embryos are imported. All imports are housed in a specific flow-through unit in a physically separated quarantine unit. At ca 14 dpf, a subset of the imported animals is submitted for health monitoring. When the result is cleared by the veterinarian, the animals are moved into a stand-alone system in the quarantine unit and raised to adult hood. The animals are bred, and surface-disinfected offspring is transferred to the main fish room. 

Lighting

All animal rooms are equipped with an automatic lighting system which is adjusted to 14 hours light and 10 hours dark. Sunrise and sunset are mimicked by gradually increasing/decreasing the light over a 20 minute period. 

Group conditions

All animals are housed in 3.5-liter tanks in a re-circulatory system (Tecniplast). The stocking density is ca 5 fish per liter with mixed-sex groups. The minimal group size is 10 fish, and tattooed playmates are added to reach the minimal group size if needed. All tanks are sitting on gravel images and structural enrichment is added to the tanks. Embryos for rearing are kept in an incubator at 28.5 °C with light cycle. 

Feeding

Larvae between 4 dpf and 9 dpf are kept in polyculture. 

Larvae > 9 dpf are fed 3 times per day dryfood (Zebrafeed, 100-200 micron) plus 1 time per day rotifers. Dryfeed is fed by the Tritone feeding robot.

Juveniles are fed 3 times per day dryfood (Zebrafeed, 200-400 micron) plus 1 time per day rotifers. Dryfeed is fed by the Tritone feeding robot.

Adults are fed 2 times per day dryfood (Zebrafeed, 400-600 microns mixed 1:1 with O-range Grow) plus 1 time per day rotifers. 

Rotifer culture

Rotifers are kept in continuous culture at a concentration of 500 000 rotifers per liter. The culture I fed with Rotigrow plus using an automatic feeding pump. The culture is submitted for health monitoring once a quarter. 

Health monitoring

The zebrafish core facility follows the FELASA guidelines for health monitoring. The latest health monitoring protocol is available on request. The following agents are present in the facility:

Mycobacterium chelonae in sludge

Mycobacterium fortuitum in sludge and rotifer culture

Zebrafish picornavirus in sentinels, randomly sampled animals and sludge 

Physical and chemical water parameters

Temperature 28.0 °C

Conductivity 1200 µS/cm

pH 7.5

NH₄⁺/NH₃ <0,05 mg/l

NO₂ 0,025 mg/l

NO₃ 0,5-1 mg/l

PO₄ 1,2 mg/l

O₂ 10 mg/l

Cu <0,05 mg/l

GH 5 dGH

KH 2 dGH

The pH is adjusted with sodium bicarbonate, the conductivity with sea salt (ReefBase, Tropical). GH and KH are adjusted with autoclaved oyster shells. Temperature, conductivity and pH are monitored continuously, chemical parameters measured at least monthly.