Pearl production by transplantation of outer epithelial cells of mantle and a novel technology to control yellowness of pearls.

在珍珠养殖中，一小块外套膜组织被植入珍珠牡蛎的性腺中，旁边是一颗贝珠，贝珠也随之被植入。然后，外套碎片的外上皮细胞开始沿着珠子表面迁移，这导致在珠子周围形成滤泡结构，随后在珠子表面形成珍珠层。本研究开发了利用外上皮细胞移植形成珍珠的技术。此外，将产生不同黄度珍珠的混合外上皮细胞移植后，可以控制珍珠的黄度。这些结果暗示了未来通过混合不同类型的外层上皮细胞来生产珍珠的可能性，这些细胞可以生产出具有不同优越品质的珍珠。

In pearl culture, a small piece of mantle tissue is implanted into a gonad of a pearl oyster in adjacent to a shell bead that is implanted concomitantly. Then outer epithelial cells of the mantle fragment start to migrate along the surface of the bead, which leads to the formation of follicular structure surrounding the bead and subsequent formation of pearl layers on the sureface of the bead. In this study, techniques for pearl formation by the transplantation of the outer epithelial cells were developped. Moreover, transplantation of the blended outer epithelial cells which produce pearls with different yellowness enabled control of the yellowness of the pearls. These results imply future possibilities of pearl production by blending of different types of outer epithelial cells that can produce pearls with differing superior qualities.