The presence of Apicomplexan parasites in king scallops (Pecten maximus) in Scottish waters.

The king scallop (Pecten maximus) is a commercially important species found around the United Kingdom coast. The association of an Apicomplexan-like parasite with mass mortality of Icelandic scallop (Chlamys islandica) in Iceland and the presence of identical parasites in king scallop (Pecten maximus) and queen scallop (Aequipecten opercularis) in Scotland raised serious concerns regarding the health of Scottish king scallops. Marine Scotland Science (MSS) conducted a survey in 2016 to assess the prevalence and the intensity of parasite infection in king scallops.

Atlantic salmon kidney (ASK) cells are an effective model to characterise interferon (IFN) and IFN-induced gene expression following salmonid alphavirus infection.

Salmonid alphavirus (SAV), the causative agent of pancreas disease, is a serious pathogen of farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Given the economic impact of SAV outbreaks, much effort is focussed upon understanding the fish immune response following infection and the exploitation of this knowledge to reduce disease impact. Herein we examine the utility of the long-term Atlantic salmon kidney (ASK) cell line as a tool to study antiviral responses upon infection with SAV.

Characterization of ranaviruses isolated from lumpfish L. in the North Atlantic area: proposal for a new ranavirus species (European North Atlantic Ranavirus).

The commercial production of lumpfish L. is expanding with the increased demand for their use as cleaner fish, to control sea-lice numbers, at marine Atlantic salmon L. aquaculture sites throughout Northern Europe.

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) serum vitellogenin neutralises infectivity of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV).

Vitellogenin is a phosphoglycoprotein which represents the main precursor of the egg yolk in teleost fish. This reproductive protein was also demonstrated to play an important role in innate immunity by acting as a pattern recognition molecule capable of binding to bacteria, fungi and enhancing macrophage phagocytosis. The presented results demonstrate that, egg homogenate, ovarian fluid and serum of mature female Atlantic salmon have high neutralising ability for infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV).

Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus suppresses type I interferon signalling in rainbow trout gonad cell line but not in Atlantic salmon macrophages.

RTG-P1 cells are a rainbow trout fibroblastic cell line permanently transfected with the luciferase gene under the control of the Mx promoter. On exposure to interferon (IFN) or IFN inducing agents, the cells produce luciferase. IPNV did not induce luciferase production up to 24h post-infection but did not suppress constitutive luciferase production.