Prof. HONG Yunhan from National University of Singapore paid a visit to IHB, Dec 27.

On December 27, Prof. HONG Yunhan from National University of Singapore paid a visit to Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHB). During his visit, he delivered a lecture entitled "From minifish genome to zebrafish ES cell line”. Prof. Hong’s current visit further strengthened his cooperation with IHB and thus promoted the S&T development in both institutions.  

In the report, Prof. Hong gave a detailed introduction on the special living environment and morphological characteristics of a kind of subminiature fish named Minifish which lives in the Malaysia rain forest. Analysis on the physiological significance of Minifish’s relatively simpler physical structure, faster embryonic development, distinct mode of reproduction and low copy number mitochondria compared with other fish, as well as the evidence of its evolution to acidic environment adaptation is also provided. Prof. Hong also explained Minifish’s genome characteristics; by comparison with other species’ genome sizes, he thought that Minifish is the kind of vertebrate with the smallest genome and further inferred that Minifish has retained some most basic genes that are related to vertebrate’s tissue and organ development during the process of gene elimination. Therefore, Minifish is likely to be an excellent model organism for research on vertebrate’s evolution. Finally, Prof. Hong presented the latest research findings in the field of zebrafish embryonic stem cells. 

Prof. Hong has been devoted to the research on cells, heredity, development, animal genesiology and stem cell biology for a long time. He is the first to obtain embryonic stem cells from other species except for mice; he obtains normal vertebrate spermatogonial stem cells from the testis of adult medakas and makes from them artificial sperms; he is also the first to acquire haploid embryonic stem cells from medaka’s body and gains the semi-cloned fish “Holly” by exerting nuclear transplantation technology on these stem cells. The relevant research findings are published in international prestigious magazines such as Science, PNAS and so on.