Abstract
A safe and successful mutagenesis of zebrafish (Danio rerio) with N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) involves balancing several factors. In addition to keeping the fish alive and the humans safe, labor, tank numbers and the process of finding and isolating new mutants should be considered. The author details useful techniques for optimizing zebrafish mutagenesis using ENU.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
We are sorry, but there is no personal subscription option available for your country.
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Walker, C. & Streisinger, G. Induction of mutations by gamma-rays in pregonial germ cells of zebrafish embryos. Genetics 103, 125–136 (1983).
Walker, C. Haploid screens and gamma-ray mutagenesis. Methods Cell Biol. 60, 43–70 (1999).
Ando, H. & Mishina, M. Efficient mutagenesis of zebrafish by a DNA cross-linking agent. Neurosci. Lett. 244, 81–84 (1998).
Grunwald, D.J. & Streisinger, G. Induction of recessive lethal and specific locus mutations in the zebrafish with ethylnitrosourea. Genet. Res. 59, 103–116 (1992).
Mullins, M. et al. Large-scale mutagenesis in the zebrafish: In search of genes controlling development in a vertebrate. Curr. Biol. 4, 189–202 (1994).
Solnica-Krezel, L. et al. Efficient recovery of ENU-induced mutations from the zebrafish germline. Genetics 136, 1401–1420 (1994).
Riley, B.B. & Grunwald, D.J. Efficient induction of point mutations allowing recovery of specific locus mutations in zebrafish. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92, 5997–6001 (1995).
Culp, P. et al. High-frequency germ-line transmission of plasmid DNA sequences injected into fertilized zebrafish eggs. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 7953–7957 (1991).
Doyon, Y. et al. Heritable targeted gene disruption in zebrafish using designed zinc-finger nucleases. Nat. Biotechnol. 26, 702–708 (2008).
Langenau, D.M. et al. Cre-lox-regulated transgenic zebrafish model with conditional myc-induced T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102, 6068–6073 (2005).
Stuart, G.W. et al. Replication, integration and stable germ-line transmission of foreign sequences injected into early zebrafish embryos. Development 103, 403–412 (1988).
Suster, M.L. et al. Transposon-mediated BAC transgenesis in zebrafish and mice. BMC Genomics 10, 477 (2009).
Driever, W. et al. A genetic screen for mutations affecting embryogenesis in zebrafish. Development 123, 293–302 (1996).
Mullins, M.C. et al. Genes establishing dorsoventral pattern formation in the zebrafish embryo: the ventral determinants. Development 123, 81–93 (1996).
Imai, Y. et al. Analysis of chromosomal rearrangements induced by postmeiotic mutagenesis with ethylnitrosourea in zebrafish. Genetics 155, 261–272 (2000).
Pelegri, F. Mutagenesis. in Zebrafish (eds. Nüsslein-Volhard, C. & Dahm, R.) 145–174 (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002).
Johnson, S. et al. Chemical mutagenesis. in The Zebrafish Book. A Guide for the Laboratory Use of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) (ed. Westerfield, M.) 4th edn. (Univ. of Oregon Press, Eugene, OR, 2000).
de Bruijn, E., Cuppen, E. & Feitsma, H. Highly efficient ENU mutagenesis in zebrafish. Methods Mol. Biol. (eds. Lieschke, G.J., Oates, A.C. & Kawakami, K.) 546, 3–12 (2009).
Rohner, N. et al. Enhancing the efficiency of N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-induced mutagenesis in the zebrafish. Zebrafish published online, doi:10.1089/zeb.2011.0703 (23 August 2011).
Justice, M.J. et al. Effects of ENU dosage on mouse strains. Mamm. Genome 11, 484–488 (2000).
Isogai, S. et al. The vascular anatomy of the developing zebrafish: an atlas of embryonic and early larval development. Dev. Biol. 230, 278–301 (2001).
Higashijima, S. et al. Visualization of cranial motor neurons in live transgenic zebrafish expressing green fluorescent protein under the control of the Islet-1 promoter/enhancer. J. Neurosci. 20, 208–218 (2000).
Draper, B.W. et al. TILLING the zebrafish genome: a reverse genetics approach. in Essential Zebrafish Methods: Genetics and Genomics (eds. Detrich, H. III, Westerfield, M. & Zon, L.I.) 132–152 (Academic, NY, 2009).
Acknowledgements
I thank the many people with whom I have discussed mutagenic procedures over the years, particularly Bruce Draper, Steve Johnson, Julie Kuhlman, Jen Matthews, Monte Matthews, Mary Mullins, Lila Solnica-Krezel, Charline Walker and John Willoughby, as well as the University of Oregon Environmental Health and Safety personnel.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declares no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Trevarrow, B. Techniques for optimizing the creation of mutations in zebrafish using N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea. Lab Anim 40, 353–361 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban1111-353
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/laban1111-353