Overview
Perkinsus are intracellular parasites that cause disease in shellfish, especially bivalve molluscs. Its infection has devastated oyster populations along the US coasts. In addition to the economic value of shellfisheries, filter-feeding bivalves such as oysters play a critical role in maintaining water quality, making Perkinsus a serious threat to the economy and the health and integrity of the coastal ecosystem. Numerous attempts to controlDermo disease, a result of P. marinus infection, have been unsuccessful to date, partly due to a lack of information about fundamental aspects of P. marinus biology. UMB researchers have developed a transfection system for Perkinsozoa and created a stable, fluorescent mutant of P. marinus that expresses GFP. This transgenic organism can be used to study the mechanisms underlying P. marinus infection in bivalves, allowing for easier visualization and quantification.
Using optimized P. marinus culture methods, UMB researchers constructed a vector based on a highly expressed P. marinus gene tagged with GFP (pPmMOE-GFP). Under optimized transfection conditions, exogenous pPmMOE-GFP DNA was introduced into P. marinus trophozoites by electroporationwith a robust efficiency of transfection of ~38%. Fluorescence can be detected starting 14 hours after electroporation and stably expressed for longer than 8 months. The visualization allows researchers to study its location, growth rate, and proliferation.
Applications
Bivalves such as oysters are important both ecologically and economically. As the causing agent of Dermo disease in oysters, P. marinus has caused mass mortality of Eastern oysters commonly cultured and wild-harvested as food species. Found along the eastern coast of the USA, from Maine to Florida, the presence of this parasite has severely reduced the abundance and productivity of oysters, particularly that of Crassostrea virginica. In the Mid-Atlantic region, P. marinus is responsible for a decrease of at least two-thirds of the surplus production available to fisheries. GFP-labeled P. marinus can help better understand the biology behind itsinfection and assist in identifying successful intervention strategies to curb it, both crucial to protecting the ecosystem and aquaculture industries.
Advantages
GFP-tagged P. marinus allows easier visualization and quantification of infection in bivalves
GFP-expression is induced early and stably, lasting longer than 8 months
Stage of Development
pPmMOE-GFP-tagged P. marinus has been tested in vivo, where PmMOE-GFP is expressed with a strong concentration in the inner lining of the plasma membrane.
(As of 5/2/17)
Licensing Potential
Available for non-exclusive licensing
Contact Info
Office of Technology Transfer
620 W Lexington St., 4th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21201
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (410) 706-2380