Characterizing disease resistance in native oysters

that have experienced disease pressure

Steven Roberts, Roxanna Smolowitz, Rick Karney

Northeastern Regional Aquaculture Center

MVineyardflickr | cpurrin1

Disease Resistance ?

Roxannna SmolowitzRick Karney

Market size

apoptosis

protease

Without Pressure

n.d.

n.d.

High Mobility Group Protein

Apoptosis – BCL-X

• Resistant oyster strains could downregulate apoptosis suppression

• Allowing for increased apoptosis

• Decreasing number of cells available for Perkinsus proliferation

Schematic

Resistant Wild-type

BCL-X BCL-X

Text

Parasite

Hemocytes

causative or associative?

Markers ?Does it matter?

Summary

• Offspring of survivors of heavy disease pressure are more tolerant to disease

• Mechanisms involved in host responses to P. marinus include proteases, apoptosis, and molecule signaling

• Careful selection of broodstock (potentially aided by markers) can benefit aquaculture and conservation efforts

Future

• Increased analysis on current data set

• Analyze gene expression patterns in different locations under different diseased pressure

• Application of markers

• Could assignment be made via gene expression?