New technologies to enhance resistance to oyster herpes virus ...

Aquaculture is the fastest growing farmed food sector in the world and is a key part of global food security, encompassing the farming of fishes, molluscans and crustaceans. The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas is a globally important species, farmed commercially across the world. The major threat f...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Potts, Robert W. A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: The University of Edinburgh 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.7488/era/3833
https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/41094
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Summary:Aquaculture is the fastest growing farmed food sector in the world and is a key part of global food security, encompassing the farming of fishes, molluscans and crustaceans. The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas is a globally important species, farmed commercially across the world. The major threat facing sustainable growth of Pacific oyster aquaculture is the spread of disease, chiefly the pathogenic oyster herpes virus microvariant (OsHV-1 uVar). Biosecurity has so far proven the best way to reduce the impact of OsHV-1, but has not been totally successful as outbreaks have continued to occur where oysters are grown in the open seas. Vaccination against OsHV-1 is not currently possible as oysters lack a sophisticated adaptive immune system. The cost of OsHV-1 outbreaks is large, both in terms of food and economic losses, and is the focus of research and development worldwide. For example, selective breeding programmes have been used to develop strains of oysters that are more resistant to OsHV-1 through the ...