A rapid phenotype change in the pathogen Perkinsus marinus was associated with a historically significant marine disease emergence in the eastern oyster

Authors

Ryan Carnegie, Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceFollow
Susan E. Ford, Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Rita K. Crockett, Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceFollow
Peter R. Kingsley-Smith
Lydia M. Bienlien, College of William and Mary - Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceFollow
Lucia S.L. Safi, Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceFollow
Laura A. Whitefleet-Smith, Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceFollow
Eugene M. Burreson, Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceFollow

Document Type

Article

Department/Program

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Publication Date

6-18-2021

Journal

Scientific Reports

Volume

11

First Page

12875

Abstract

The protozoan parasite Perkinsus marinus, which causes dermo disease in Crassostrea virginica, is one of the most ecologically important and economically destructive marine pathogens. The rapid and persistent intensification of dermo in the USA in the 1980s has long been enigmatic. Attributed originally to the effects of multi-year drought, climatic factors fail to fully explain the geographic extent of dermo’s intensification or the persistence of its intensified activity. Here we show that emergence of a unique, hypervirulent P. marinus phenotype was associated with the increase in prevalence and intensity of this disease and associated mortality. Retrospective histopathology of 8355 archival oysters from 1960 to 2018 spanning Chesapeake Bay, South Carolina, and New Jersey revealed that a new parasite phenotype emerged between 1983 and 1990, concurrent with major historical dermo disease outbreaks. Phenotypic changes included a shortening of the parasite’s life cycle and a tropism shift from deeper connective tissues to digestive epithelia. The changes are likely adaptive with regard to the reduced oyster abundance and longevity faced by P. marinus after rapid establishment of exotic pathogen Haplosporidium nelsoni in 1959. Our findings, we hypothesize, illustrate a novel ecosystem response to a marine parasite invasion: an increase in virulence in a native parasite.

DOI

doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-92379-6

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Carnegie, Ryan; Ford, Susan E.; Crockett, Rita K.; Kingsley-Smith, Peter R.; Bienlien, Lydia M.; Safi, Lucia S.L.; Whitefleet-Smith, Laura A.; and Burreson, Eugene M., A rapid phenotype change in the pathogen Perkinsus marinus was associated with a historically significant marine disease emergence in the eastern oyster (2021). Scientific Reports, 11, 12875.

doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-92379-6