Collaborative Research: Host-Pathogen Interactions at Pallial Interfaces in Marine Bivalves: Cellular and Molecular Pathways for Host Colonization and Invasion

双壳类软体动物是底栖生物群落中最重要的成员之一，具有重要的环境影响和商业价值。传染病已造成双壳类动物如东方牡蛎的严重死亡，导致生态系统健康的重大改变。然而，对于大多数双壳类疾病，对病原体传播的动力学知之甚少，包括感染的途径和机制或促进或抑制病原体进入宿主的因素等基本信息。有趣的是，最近的研究表明，病原体（即Perkinsus marinus，牡蛎皮肤病的病原体）可以破坏宿主防御因子（例如半乳糖凝集素），进入牡蛎血细胞并引发感染。这项合作努力将联合来自斯托尼布鲁克大学和马里兰州大学的专家的专业知识和设施，提供一种协同方法来确定传染性病原体如何劫持与套膜组织（外套膜，鳃）相关的宿主防御因子，以启动东部牡蛎的感染。这些关于宿主-病原体相互作用的细胞和分子研究将解决长期存在的关于海洋微生物定殖和入侵双壳类的机制的问题。这一新的信息是迫切需要的，以针对未来的调查，以创新的战略，减轻疾病。除了牡蛎疾病的具体案例之外，该项目将对科学家如何看待微生物与其海洋无脊椎动物宿主之间的初次接触产生根本性影响，并有可能导致新研究方法的发展。从教育的角度来看，该项目的一个主要目标是对研究生、大学生和高中学生和教师，包括代表人数不足的少数群体进行海洋生物病理学和免疫学方面的多学科培训。研究和教育活动的产品将通过科学电子和印刷媒体传播，包括研究生论文和课堂教学模块，以及贝类贸易杂志上的出版物和面向利益攸关方和公众的概况介绍。

Bivalve mollusks are among the most important members of benthic communities for their environmental impacts and commercial value. Infectious diseases have caused severe mortalities in bivalves such as the Eastern oyster, leading to significant alterations of ecosystem health. For most bivalve diseases, however, little is known about the dynamics of pathogen transmission, including basic information such as the routes and the mechanisms of infection or the factors that facilitate or inhibit the entry of pathogens into their hosts. Interestingly, recent studies demonstrated that pathogens (namely Perkinsus marinus the causative agent of Dermo disease in oysters) can subvert host defense factors (e.g. galectin) to gain entry in oyster blood cells and initiate infections. This collaborative effort will unite the expertise and facilities of specialists from Stony Brook University and the University of Maryland, providing a synergistic approach to determine how infectious agents hijack host defense factors associated with pallial tissues (mantle, gills) to initiate infections in the Eastern oyster. These studies on cellular and molecular host-pathogen interactions will address long-standing questions regarding mechanism(s) by which marine microbes colonize and invade bivalves. This new information is urgently needed to target future investigations to innovative strategies for disease mitigation. Beyond the specific case of oyster diseases, this project would have a fundamental impact on how scientists view initial encounters between microbes and their marine invertebrate hosts, and has the potential to lead to the development of new research approaches. From the educational standpoint, a primary objective of this project is the multidisciplinary training of graduate, undergraduate, and high school students and teachers, including underrepresented minorities, in the pathology and immunology of marine organisms. The products from research and educational activities will be disseminated by scientific electronic and printed media, including graduate dissertations and teaching modules for the classroom, as well as publications in shellfish trade magazines and fact sheets directed at stakeholders and the general public.