Project description:Recently, we reported an emerging pathology named Brown Muscle Disease (BMD) affecting Asari clams inhabiting the most productive area for this species in France, the Arcachon Bay. The main macroscopic feature of the pathology relies on the atrophy of the posterior adductor muscle, affecting the ability of clams to burry. The research of the etiological agent of BMD privileged a viral infection. Contrary to healthy clams, infected animals are always found at the surface of the sediment and exhibit 30 nm virus-like particles in muscle, granulocytic and rectal cells. In order to get more insights on the etiology and impacts of the BMD on clams, we took advantage in the present study of next generation sequencing technologies. An RNA-Seq approach was used (i) to test whether viral RNA sequences can be specifically found in the transcriptome of diseased animals and (ii) to identify the genes that are differentially regulated between diseased and healthy clams. Contrary to healthy buried animals, in diseased clams one sequence showing extensive homologies with retroviridae-related genes was detected. Among the biological processes that were affected in diseased clams, the synaptic transmission process was the most represented. To deepen this result, a new sampling was carried out and the transcription level of genes involved in synaptic transmission was determined in healthy and diseased clams but also in clams with no visible sign of pathology but located at the surface of the sediment. Our findings suggest that muscle atrophy is a latter sign of the pathology and that nervous system could be instead a primary target of the BMD agent.
Project description:Parasites of the genus Perkinsus spp. cause high mortalities and economic losses to the most noticeable bivalves produced in the worldwide aquaculture. In this study, we analyze how P. olseni influences the gene expression profiles of hemocytes from Manila clam (Venerupis philippinarum) using experimental infections along a temporal series and a Manila clam immune-enriched DNA microarray. Healthy and Perkinsus-infected clams (V. philippinarum) were obtained from Carril and Pontevedra shellfish farms, respectively (Galicia, NW Spain). The presence-absence of P. olseni was confirmed using the Ray`s fluid thioglycollate medium assay (RFTM) (Ray, 1966). Healthy clams were maintained in an open circuit filtered sea water tanks at 15°C with aeration. Natural infected animals were maintained in the same conditions using closed circuit sea water. All animals were fed daily with a mixture of microalgae containing Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Isochrysis galbana and Rhodomonas lens. Clams were acclimatized to the aquarium conditions for one week before the experiments were conducted. Perkinsus trophozoites were isolated from naturally infected animals following the protocol established by Ford et al., (2002). The concentration was adjusted to 5x104 trophozoites /ml in filtered sea water (FSW). Healthy clams (P. olseni free animals) (n=100) with a weight of 2.25 ± 0.64 g soft tissue, were notched in the shell and intramuscularly injected with 100 µl of the trophozoites suspension. Control animals (n=100) were injected with 100 µl of FSW. After infection, clams were maintained in 50 l tanks with aeration.Twenty animals from each experimental group and time point were sampled at 5, 10, 14, and 31 days post infection (pi).Hemolymph were extracted to perform microarrays experiments. In each condition hemolymph from three five individuals was pooled. Total RNA isolation was conducted following the manufacturer’s specifications. Isolated RNAs were treated with DNase I and purified again using the RNeasy Mini kit (Qiagen). A 8x15K Agilent 60-mer oligo-microarray (GPL16450) was used to compare gene expression profiles of clams after P. olseni infection with uninfected animals. The Agilent Feature Extraction Software (version 9.5.1) was used for the data extraction and background subtraction following standard procedures. The GeneSpring software (Agilent) was used to normalize and analyze the microarray fluorescence data.
Project description:Geoduck clams (Panopea generosa) were collected from Puget Sound, WA in November, 2014. Male and female geoduck gonads were sampled at three reproductive stages over the course of three months: early, middle, and late. Early stage indicates that the gonad cells are just beginning to differentiate and late stage indicates that the geoduck are ready to spawn. The goal of this study was to identify biomarkers of the geoduck reproductive cycle. Due to the restriction of our current data model we can not add multiple names as Lab Head. However, this Project has been equally led by Steven B. Roberts and Brook L. Nunn.
Project description:Geoduck clams (Panopea generosa) were collected from Puget Sound, WA in November, 2014. Male and female geoduck gonads were sampled at three reproductive stages over the course of three months: early, middle, and late. Early stage indicates that the gonad cells are just beginning to differentiate and late stage indicates that the geoduck are ready to spawn. The goal of this study was to identify biomarkers of the geoduck reproductive cycle. Due to the restriction of our current data model we can not add multiple names as Lab Head. However, this Project has been equally led by Steven B. Roberts and Brook L. Nunn.