Rickettsia-like and Chlamydia-like Organisms of Scallops
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Category
Category 4 (Negligible Regulatory Significance in Canada)
Common, generally accepted names of the organism or disease agent
Rickettsia-like and Chlamydia-like organisms.
Scientific name or taxonomic affiliation
Intracellular microcolonies of organisms belonging to the Rickettsiales.
Geographic distribution
Ubiquitous.
Host species
Placopecten magellanicus, Patinopecten yessoensis, Pecten maximus, Chlamys varia, Chlamys opercularis, Argopecten irradians and Argopecten purpuratus as well as a wide variety of other marine bivalves including oysters, mussels, clams and cockles.
Impact on the host
Microcolonies in the epithelial cells of the gills and digestive gland. Infections usually of light intensity and not associated with disease. Although, rickettsiosis has been associated with mass mortalities in P. magellanicus (Gulka et al. 1983)and P. maximus (Le Gall et al. 1988), the mortalities were eventually attributed to other adverse environmental factors (Gulka and Cheng 1984, Le Gall et al. 1991). Chlamydiosis was also associated with serious disease among hatchery-reared larval and postmetamorphic A. irradians. Other bivalve species could not be infected by the rickettsia-like organism from P. magellanicus through the water column or by direct injection (Gulka and Cheng 1984).
Diagnostic techniques
Histology
Basophilic microcolonies in cytoplasm of epithelial cells of the digestive gland, kidney or gills. Infected cells may or may not be hypertrophied.
Electron Microscopy
A dimorphic species (one form about 0.8 × 1.63-2.45 µm in the epithelial and subepithelial cells of the gills, labial palps and oesophagus and a second form 1.4-4.1 × 2.7-8.2 µm in the epithelail cells of the gills and labial palps) has been reported in P. yessoensis from Uchiura Bay, Hokkaido, Japan (Friedman 1994).
Biochemical characterisation
Rickettsiales-like organisms purified from P. maximus by differential and isopycnic centrifugation on sucrose and renografin density gradients had 15 major constituent proteins with molecular weights ranging between 148 and 16 kD and 10 enzymes including acid phosphatase and catalase, which could be related to pathogenicity (Le Gall and Mialhe 1992).
Immunological Assay
Monoclconal antibodies have been produced against the gill Rickettsiales-like organisms of P. maximus by Le Gall et al. (1992) (IFREMER, Station de La Tremblade, Mus-du-Loup, B.P. 133, 17390 La Tremblade, France).
DNA Probes
Oligonucleotide primers for nucleic acid hybridisation and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), that amplified rickettsia-like organisms but not scallop DNA, were identified from a 1500 bp sequence of a cloned genomic DNA fragment extracted from purified rickettsia-like organisms from the gills of infected P. maximus (Kellner-Cousin et al. 1993).
Methods of control
No known methods of prevention or control. Most species are probably not pathogenic.
References
Ball, M.C. and S.E. McGladdery. 2001. Scallop parasites, pests and diseases: implications for aquaculture development in Canada. Bulletin of the Aquaculture Association of Canada 101-3: 13-18.
Comps, M. 1983. Infections rickettsiennes chez les mollusques bivalves des côtes francaise. Rapports et Procès-verbaux des Réunions du Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer 182: 134-136. (In French).
Elston, R.A. 1986. Occurrence of branchial rickettsiales-like infection in two bivalve molluscs, Tapes japonica and Patinopecten yessoensis, with comments on their significance. Journal of Fish Diseases 9: 69-71.
Friedman, C.S. 1994. Rickettsiales-like infection of the Japanese scallop, Patinopecten yessoensis. In: Bourne, N.F., B.L. Bunting and L.D. Townsend (eds.). Proceedings of the 9th International Pectinid Workshop, Nanaimo, B.C., Canada, April 22-27, 1993. Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 1994: 115.
Getchell, R.G. 1991. Diseases and parasites of scallops. In: S.E. Shumway (ed.). Scallops: Biology, Ecology and Aquaculture. Developments in Aquaculture and Fisheries Science No. 21. Elsevier Press, p. 471-494.
Gulka, G. and P.W. Chang. 1984. Pathogenicity and infectivity of a rickettsia-like organism in the sea scallop, Placopecten magellanicus. Journal of Fish Diseases 8: 309-318.
Gulka, G., P.W. Chang and K.A. Marti. 1983. Procaryotic infection associated with mass mortality of the sea scallop Placopecten magellanicus. Journal of Fish Diseases 6: 355-364.
Harshbarger, J.C., S.C. Chang and S.V. Otto. 1977. Chlamydiae (with phages), mycoplasmas, and rickettsia in Chesapeake Bay bivalves. Science 196: 666-668.
Kellner-Cousin, K., G. Le Gall, B. Despres, M. Kaghad, P. Legoux, D. Shire and E. Mialhe. 1993. Genomic DNA cloning of rickettsia-like organisms (RLO) of Saint-Jacques scallop Pecten maximus: evaluation of prokaryote diagnosis by hybridization with a non-isotopically labelled probe and by polymerase chain reaction. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 15: 145-152.
Le Gall, G. and E. Mialhe. 1992. Purification of Rickettsiales-like organisms associated with Pecten maximus (Mollusca: Bivalvia): serological and biochemical characterization. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 12: 215-220.
Le Gall, G., D. Chagot, E. Mialhe and H. Grizel. 1988. Branchial Rickettsiales-like infection associated with a mass mortality of sea scallop Pecten maximus. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 4: 229-232.
Le Gall, G., E. Mialhe, D. Chagot and H. Grizel. 1991. Epizootiological study of rickettsiosis of the Saint-Jacques scallop Pecten maximus. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 10: 139-145.
Le Gall, G., C. Mourton, V. Boulo, F. Paolucci, B. Pau and E. Mialhe. 1992. Monoclonal antibodies against a gill Rickettsiales-like organism of Pecten maximus (Bivalvia): application to indirect immunofluorescence diagnosis. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 14: 213-217.
Lohrmann, K.B., A.R. Brand and S.W. Feist. 2002. Comparison of the parasites and pathogens present in a cultivated and in a wild population of scallops (Argopecten purpuratus Lamarck, 1819) in Tongoy Bay, Chile. Journal of Shellfish Research 21: 557-561.
Morrison, C. and G. Shum. 1982. Chlamydia-like organisms in the digestive diverticula of the bay scallop Argopecten irradians. Journal of Fish Diseases 5: 173-184.
Morrison, C. and G. Shum. 1983. Rickettsias in the kidney of the bay scallop, Argopecten irradians. Journal of Fish Diseases 6: 537-541.
Citation Information
Bower, S.M. (2004): Synopsis of Infectious Diseases and Parasites of Commercially Exploited Shellfish: Rickettsia-like and Chlamydia-like Organisms of Scallops.
Date last revised: December 2004
Comments to Susan Bower
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