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International audienceSince 2008, mass mortalities of 1-yr-old Crassostrea gigas associated with the ostreid herpesvirus OsHV-1 μVar have occurred along all the coasts of France when seawater temperature reaches 16 to 17°C. The present study aimed to characterize the effect of temperature on oyster survival in combination with OsHV-1 DNA quantification by standard real-time PCR and total vibrio population levels in oyster tissues. To examine the effect of seawater temperature on disease transmission and related mortality of oysters, cohabitation experiments were conducted between healthy naïve oysters and oysters previously exposed to field conditions in areas where mortalities were occurring. Oysters initially maintained in controlled conditions (free of mortality and negative for OsHV-1), and then transferred to an area where high mortalities were occurring among farmed stocks, became infected with OsHV-1 and exhibited high loads of vibrios followed by significant mortalities. When previously exposed oysters were maintained indoors at 13.0°C for 40 d and then at 20.6°C, they exhibited no mortality, were negative for OsHV-1 detection, and did not transmit the disease to healthy oysters. Survival of previously exposed oysters maintained indoors at 8 temperatures ranging from 13.4 to 29.0°C varied from 25 to 48% and was negatively correlated with holding temperature. Concomitantly, survival of naïve cohabiting animals (62 to 98%) decreased with increasing seawater temperature until a plateau was reached between 16.2 and 21.9°C, and increased at higher temperatures. Therefore, the optimal temperature range for disease transmission from field-exposed to naïve animals was between 16.2 and 21.9°C. Our results suggest that a long-term period (40 d) at low temperature (13°C) may offer a method of mitigating mortalities in oysters that have been exposed to an infective environment

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SUMMARY We compared lipid dynamics and the physiological responses of blue mussels Mytilus edulis, a cold-adapted species, and oysters Crassostrea virginica, a warmer-water species, during simulated overwintering and passage to spring conditions. To simulate overwintering, animals were held at 0°C, 4°C and 9°C for 3 months and then gradually brought to and maintained at 20°C for 5 weeks to simulate spring–summer conditions. Changes in lipid class and fatty acid composition were related to clearance rate and oxygen consumption. We found major differences between species in triglyceride (TAG) metabolism during overwintering. Mussels used digestive gland TAG stores for energy metabolism or reproductive processes during the winter, whereas oysters did not accumulate large TAG stores prior to overwintering. Mussel TAG contained high levels of 20:5n-3 compared to levels in oysters and in the diet. This may help to counteract the effect of low temperature by reducing the melting point of TAG and thus increasing the availability of storage fats at low temperature. Mussels seemed better able to mobilise 20:5n-3 and 18:4n-3 than other fatty acids. We also found that both bivalves underwent a major remodelling of membrane phospholipids. The unsaturation index decreased in the gills and digestive glands of both species during the early stages of warming, principally due to decreases in 22:6n-3 and 20:5n-3. In digestive glands, the unsaturation index did not increase with decreasing temperature beyond a threshold attained at 9°C whereas a perfect negative relationship was observed in gills, as predicted by homeoviscous adaptation. The presence of digestive enzymes and acids in the digestive gland microenvironment may lead to specific requirements for membrane stability. That oysters had lower metabolic rates than mussels coincides with a lower unsaturation index of their lipids, as predicted by Hulbert's theory of membranes as metabolic pacemakers. Both species showed increased 20:4n-6 levels in their tissues as temperature rose,suggesting an increasing availability of this fatty acid for eicosanoid biosynthesis during stress responses. The contrast between the species in TAG dynamics and the similarity of their phospholipid remodelling emphasises the essential functional role of membrane phospholipid structure and the contrasting use of TAG by oysters and mussels during overwintering.

Emerging diseases pose a recurrent threat to bivalve aquaculture. Recently, massive mortality events in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas associated with the detection of a microvariant of the ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1µVar) have been reported in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Although the spread of disease is often viewed as a governance failure, we suggest that the development of protective measures for bivalve farming is presently held back by the lack of key scientific knowledge. In this paper, we explore the case for an integrated approach to study the management of bivalve disease, using OsHV-1 as a case study. Reconsidering the key issues by incorporating multidisciplinary science could provide a holistic understanding of OsHV-1 and increase the benefit of research to policymakers.