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California mussels (Mytilus californianus) as sentinels for marine contamination with Sarcocystis neurona

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2016

LAUREN MICHAELS ,
DANIEL REJMANEK ,
BEATRIZ AGUILAR ,
PATRICIA CONRAD  and
KAREN SHAPIRO Open the ORCID record for KAREN SHAPIRO [Opens in a new window]
LAUREN MICHAELS
Affiliation:
Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology Department, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
DANIEL REJMANEK
Affiliation:
Center for Animal Health and Food Safety, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
BEATRIZ AGUILAR
Affiliation:
Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology Department, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
PATRICIA CONRAD
Affiliation:
Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology Department, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA One Health Institute, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
KAREN SHAPIRO*
Affiliation:
Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology Department, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA One Health Institute, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, 4206 VM3A, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA or One Health Institute, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Phone: +001 519-546-0324. Fax: +001 530-752-3349. E-mail: kshapiro@ucdavis.edu
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Summary

Sarcocystis neurona is a terrestrial parasite that can cause fatal encephalitis in the endangered Southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis). To date, neither risk factors associated with marine contamination nor the route of S. neurona infection to marine mammals has been described. This study evaluated coastal S. neurona contamination using California mussels (Mytilus californianus) as sentinels for pathogen pollution. A field investigation was designed to test the hypotheses that (1) mussels can serve as sentinels for S. neurona contamination, and (2) S. neurona contamination in mussels would be highest during the rainy season and in mussels collected near freshwater. Initial validation of molecular assays through sporocyst spiking experiments revealed the ITS-1500 assay to be most sensitive for detection of S. neurona, consistently yielding parasite amplification at concentrations ⩾5 sporocysts/1 mL mussel haemolymph. Assays were then applied on 959 wild-caught mussels, with detection of S. neurona confirmed using sequence analysis in three mussels. Validated molecular assays for S. neurona detection in mussels provide a novel toolset for investigating marine contamination with this parasite, while confirmation of S. neurona in wild mussels suggests that uptake by invertebrates may serve as a route of transmission to susceptible marine animals.

Keywords

Sarcocystis neuronaCalifornia mussels (Mytilus californianus)HaemolymphDetectionMarineSporocystsSea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis)
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 143 , Issue 6 , May 2016 , pp. 762 - 769
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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