Perkinsus marinus cellular biology using expression sequence tags (EST)

During the last five years virtually all fields of biology have benefited from the tremendous volume of information generated by genomic approaches. Embedded within genomic sequence data is information needed for identifying targets for drug development and for dissecting the biological aspects that may constitute the basis for infectivity and pathogenicity. Perkinsus marinus has been associated with mass mortalities of the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, for more than 50 years and although substantial progress in understanding the disease has been accomplished, effective prevention or treatment methods are still lacking. Previously, we presented a dataset consisting of 300 ESTs generated from two P. marinus cDNA libraries constructed using P. marinus propagated in standard culture medium and in medium supplemented with C. virginica serum. We now present the analysis of a more extensive EST dataset corresponding to both libraries, focusing on those P. marinus genes or metabolic pathways that may be unique to this parasite, or which have been targeted for intervention in other parasite species. Based on our increased knowledge of P. marinus genomics/biology, possible strategies to enhance anti-parasite responses in the oyster will be discussed [ODRP, NOAA award NA06RG0101-5, through the MD Sea Grant College, to GRV].