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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Orono, Maine » National Cold Water Marine Aquaculture Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #422043
Research Project: Genetic Improvement of North American Atlantic Salmon and the Eastern Oyster for Aquaculture Production

Location: National Cold Water Marine Aquaculture Center

Title: Evaluation of genomic selection to improve survival of eastern oysters infected with Perkinsus marinus

Author
item Delomas, Thomas
item Proestou, Dina
item SMALL, JESSICA - Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Submitted to: Frontiers in Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/30/2026
Publication Date: 6/18/2026
Citation: Delomas, T.A., Proestou, D.A., Small, J.M. 2026. Evaluation of genomic selection to improve survival of eastern oysters infected with Perkinsus marinus. Frontiers in Genetics. Article 17,1821653. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2026.1821653.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2026.1821653

Interpretive Summary: Dermo disease can cause mortality of eastern oysters both in the wild and on farms. Resistance to this disease was identified by farmers as a top priority for selective breeding. The results of this study demonstrated that genomic selection can be used to improve survival of dermo disease in a laboratory challenge. This will allow selective breeding programs to design and implement genomic selection strategies that improve survival of dermo disease in eastern oysters.

Technical Abstract: Dermo disease is a chronic condition of eastern oysters infected by the protozoan parasite Perkinsus marinus. This disease often causes mortality on farms at the end of the grow-out cycle and has been identified by producers as a top concern. We here assessed the potential for marker-assisted selection and genomic selection to improve survival to P. marinus infection in a laboratory disease challenge. Three year classes of oysters from a family-based breeding program were challenged and genotyped with a 66k single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. Six SNPs were identified through a genome-wide association study as significantly influencing survival, but none explained more than 4% of the total genetic variance for survival. This suggests that marker-assisted selection is not a viable option. Genomic selection was estimated to be 9% more accurate than pedigree-based selection, and using a subset of 3,500 SNPs was found to give comparable accuracy to that with the full panel.