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动物群落中最重要的成员之一，具有环境影响和商业价值。传染病已导致东方牡蛎等双壳类严重死亡，导致生态系统健康发生重大变化。然而，对于大多数双壳类疾病，人们对病原体传播的动力学知之甚少，包括基本信息，如感染途径和机制，或促进或抑制病原体进入宿主的因素。有趣的是，最近的研究表明，病原体(即引起牡蛎皮肤病的Perkinsus marinus)可以颠覆宿主防御因子(如Galectin)进入牡蛎血细胞并引发感染。这一合作努力将联合石溪大学和马里兰大学的专家的专业知识和设施，提供一种协同方法，以确定感染因子如何劫持与顶叶组织(外套膜、鳃)相关的宿主防御因子，以启动东部牡蛎的感染。这些关于细胞和分子寄主-病原体相互作用的研究将解决关于海洋微生物定植和入侵双壳类的机制(S)的长期存在的问题。迫切需要这一新信息，以便将未来的调查目标对准创新的疾病缓解战略。除了牡蛎疾病的具体案例外，该项目还将对科学家如何看待微生物与海洋无脊椎动物宿主之间的最初接触产生根本性影响，并有可能导致新研究方法的开发。从教育的角度来看，该项目的一个主要目标是对研究生、本科生和高中生和教师，包括未被充分代表的少数群体，进行海洋生物病理学和免疫学方面的多学科培训。研究和教育活动的成果将通过科学、电子和印刷媒体传播，包括用于课堂的毕业论文和教学单元，以及面向利益攸关方和公众的贝类贸易杂志和概况介绍出版物。

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.