Infectious diseases of marine molluscs and host responses as revealed by genomic tools.
Ximing GuoSusan E FordPublished in: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences (2016)
More and more infectious diseases affect marine molluscs. Some diseases have impacted commercial species including MSX and Dermo of the eastern oyster, QPX of hard clams, withering syndrome of abalone and ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) infections of many molluscs. Although the exact transmission mechanisms are not well understood, human activities and associated environmental changes often correlate with increased disease prevalence. For instance, hatcheries and large-scale aquaculture create high host densities, which, along with increasing ocean temperature, might have contributed to OsHV-1 epizootics in scallops and oysters. A key to understanding linkages between the environment and disease is to understand how the environment affects the host immune system. Although we might be tempted to downplay the role of immunity in invertebrates, recent advances in genomics have provided insights into host and parasite genomes and revealed surprisingly sophisticated innate immune systems in molluscs. All major innate immune pathways are found in molluscs with many immune receptors, regulators and effectors expanded. The expanded gene families provide great diversity and complexity in innate immune response, which may be key to mollusc's defence against diverse pathogens in the absence of adaptive immunity. Further advances in host and parasite genomics should improve our understanding of genetic variation in parasite virulence and host disease resistance.
Keyphrases
- human health
- infectious diseases
- innate immune
- immune response
- single cell
- escherichia coli
- copy number
- toxoplasma gondii
- risk factors
- pseudomonas aeruginosa
- trypanosoma cruzi
- gene expression
- cystic fibrosis
- staphylococcus aureus
- transcription factor
- genome wide
- inflammatory response
- dendritic cells
- induced pluripotent stem cells