Host oyster tissue extracts modulate in vitro protease expression and cellular differentiation in the protozoan parasite, Perkinsus marinus.
Perkinsus marinus is responsible for a chronic disease (Dermo) of the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica. In order to simulate the in vivo environment more closely, a chemically defined medium (JL-ODRP-3) was supplemented with tissue homogenate extracts or plasma from oysters possessing varying degrees of susceptibility to P. marinus infection. In media supplemented with extracts from highly susceptible oysters (C. virginica), P. marinus cells secreted elevated amounts of a set of low molecular weight serine proteases (LMP: 30-45 kDa) as assessed by enhanced digestion within gelatin-substrate SDS-PAGE gels. Oyster species of low susceptibility (C. gigas and C. ariakensis) did not exhibit this ability to upregulate P. marinus LMP expression. Oyster extract supplementation also led to pronounced changes in P. marinus cellular morphology, such that the cells were comparable to those observed within naturally infected oysters.
Department of Environmental and Aquatic Animal Health, School of Marine Science, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point, VA 23062-1,316, USA.
E A
EA
MacIntyre
C G
CG
Earnhart
S L
SL
Kaattari
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects*; D003470:Culture Media; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic / Q000187:drug effects*; D010125:Ostreidae / Q000469:parasitology*; D011529:Protozoan Infections, Animal; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism*; D014020:Tissue Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects
D003470:Culture Media; D014020:Tissue Extracts; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases