AVCLSC Update December 2004

	Volume 2, Issue 4 December 2004 In this Issue:
A quarterly communication from the AVC Lobster Science Centre at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada	Director's Message Can We Use Acute Phase Proteins to Access Lobster Health Chairman's Remarks Lobster Science meets Genome Science In The Lab

Director's Message

The major undertaking during this Quarter was the well-attended Lobster Science Workshop with the theme “Working Towards the Future”. There were sessions on Environmental Science, Fishery Management and Conservation, Lobster Health Research at the AVCLSC, presentations by fishermen, processors and live shippers. The keynote speaker at the banquet was Dr. Jim Stewart, Scientist Emeritus, Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The program was held at the Delta Prince Edward Hotel in Charlottetown, with approximately 100 attendees from all sectors of the lobster industry.
New hypotheses on shell disease are being developed as “ugly lobster disease” becomes more prevalent in the lobster fishery of the United States. This issue is leading to international collaboration on research, including a potential role for the AVC Lobster Science Centre. As global warming continues, effects on the lobster fishery are unknown.

In mid-July, Ms. Lori Edwards (already the half-time Secretary for the AVCLSC), accepted the half-time position of Data Systems Support, where she will contribute to LobsterNET. In September, Ms. Rachael Summerfield joined the Team as Laboratory Technician - Lobster Health. She recently completed her MSc. degree in biochemistry and biomedical sciences at McMaster University. Our research programs on Host Response and Infectious Diseases, Paramoebiasis, and LobsterNET are proceeding very well. Where appropriate, results of the research have been submitted to peer-reviewed scientific journals for evaluation and publication.

Can We Use Acute Phase Proteins to Assess Lobster Health?

Dr. Andrea Battison, Research Scientist

This project was recently initiated to identify blood (hemolymph) proteins whose levels increase during inflammatory or infectious diseases as part of the acute phase response (APR). Changes in the levels of these acute phase proteins are used to monitor health status in individuals and groups in human and veterinary medicine. The APR represents the “first line of defense”, or basic immune response in man and other vertebrates. A similar response is expected to occur in crustaceans. This project is in its early stages; however, initial results are encouraging.

Chairman's Remarks

The 2004 year has brought much change and challenge to the lobster industry. On the resource side, we have witnessed reductions in catches in almost all Canadian Lobster Fishing Areas. Many of these reductions threaten the viability of fishing enterprises and the livelihoods of fishing families. The central and western Northumberland Strait and areas of Cape Breton are most notably affected. While harvesters are first in line and most directly affected, the effects of decreased economic returns from the fishery are felt throughout the community and the greater regional economy.

These past several months have also brought with them a substantial reduction in the catch of lobster by our American colleagues in New England. Over the past decade the Canadian lobster processing industry has come to rely on significant levels of imported raw material from the United States. These raw material imports, which in some years matched our domestic catch in import volume, served to allow a production and industry economic model to achieve some degree of business success. The large reduction in the American catch in 2004 and the resulting decrease in imports to Canada have resulted in inflicting significant challenge to our industry; challenge that will be felt by all over the coming twelve months. Added to and compounding these pressures is the large change we have seen in the exchange rate between the Canadian and American dollar. As processors attempt to achieve efficiency with only 50% of their historical raw material supply, and as fishers attempt to face the future in the face of reduced domestic catches – we must rally in collective fashion to ensure that all efforts are taken which will allow our industry to survive this set of challenges.

In addressing these threats, industry stakeholders and partners face perhaps the greatest obligation encountered in recent memory. The obligation has never been so dire to cooperate and communicate within industry to seek advances in science, in resource health and sustainability, in management systems and regimes, and in strategic planning exercises for continued industry health. It is evident to all, and I assure you from my vantage point of AVCLSC Chairman that the ability for industry to rely on the fortunes and graces of government for solutions ( fiscal and other ) is rapidly fading. Governments at all levels are hard pressed to provide essential services to taxpayers - especially in the areas of health, education, and transport. Presently, various sectors of the Atlantic Canadian economy are facing storm clouds. Tourism, agriculture, and other primary sectors have seen negative growth or decline in recent years. The ability of government to respond to the cries from all sectors is limited. As a result, and to large degree, we are left to our devices to find solutions. The ability or willingness of the Canadian taxpayer to wholly fund the prescription for industry recovery is no longer present.

As you reflect on my comments, I urge you as industry stakeholders to consider your level of support for initiatives such as those undertaken at the AVC Lobster Science Centre. Our aims are simple - to undertake quality science and research focussed on assuring sustainability for our industry. Sustainability of our lobster stocks, sustainability of our economic model, sustainability of our costal communities, and maximization of financial return and contribution to the Canadian economy from every pound of lobster that we harvest.

If you are not already a supporter of the work of the AVC Lobster Science Centre and the efforts to ensure a continuing healthy lobster industry in and beyond our time, I urge you to call, visit, check our website, – take up the challenge – fulfil your obligation and participate in reaching common goals.

Lobster Science meets Genome Science -
How genomics can help us to understand "Bumper Car" disease in Lobsters?

“Bumper car” disease or “Ciliated protozoan” disease of lobsters is caused by the single-celled parasite Anophryoides haemophila. The name “Bumper car” was used to describe how the ciliates look in lobster blood when observed under a microscope: the movement of the ciliates looks like the bumper car amusement park ride, a series of rapid collisions and changes in direction. Bumper car disease was first discovered in the Maritimes in the 1970's and is a well documented infection of wild lobsters. However, it is within the cold-water lobster holding sector of the industry that the parasite contributes to significant losses. Although the importance of the disease to the lobster industry is well known, little is actually understood on how the ciliate causes disease in lobster. To begin to answer this simple question, we chose to use the new molecular genetic techniques of genomics to gather as much information as possible about the parasite and how it interacts with the lobster.

Genomics is a relatively new area of scientific research that has been in the newspapers almost daily since the sequencing of the human genome in 2003. The goal of genomics research is to determine and understand the “entire genetic information content of an organism” (or “genome”). Genomics is different from classical biological research by the fact that it relies heavily on the collaboration of experts from many areas of science. Research projects in genomics require the collection of huge amounts of genetic data and the subsequent analysis with computers (bioinformatics). The study of genomics is considered the future of the biotechnology industry, providing the essential science base for a wide range of molecular genetic applications.

Genome research at the AVCLSC is a small genomics project compared to the human genome project. In the human project the goal was to determine the sequence of the entire genome. Not only was our research budget not of the scale of the human genome project but our goals were much more manageable and focussed. Our primary goal was to build a database of expressed genes from the Bumper car parasite. We expected that some of these expressed genes would be involved in the day-to-day life of the parasite as well as play a role during infection and disease of lobsters. By comparing the presence of the Bumper car parasite genes to other parasite genes (from research done in laboratories around the world) we hope to see if they use the same or different methods to cause disease. This parasite gene comparison would allow us to develop a better understanding of how the Bumper car parasite kills lobsters.

A genome is all the genetic information or DNA content of an organism, including its genes. Genes carry information for making proteins that are essential to cell survival and play many roles in structure (e.g. whether an animal has an internal or external skeleton which is an obvious difference in structural support between humans and lobsters) and function (e.g. how food is digested by enzymes or the mechanisms to fight infections). DNA is made up of four similar chemicals (called bases that are abbreviated A, G, C, & T) that are repeated millions or billions of times throughout a genome. The human genome has approximately 3 billion base pairs encoding about 50,000 genes. The genome of the Bumper car ciliate is considerably smaller at approximately 200 million base pairs.

The Bumper car parasite genomics database consists of approximately 10,000 expressed gene sequences or EST’s = expressed sequence tags. Findings from computer database searches revealed approximately 1,000 potential genes, approximately 40% of these genes are found in the genomes of other pathogens (e.g. E. coli and the Malaria parasite). From these comparisons we have found specific groups of genes in the Bumper car parasite that may be involved in how the ciliate attaches to and invades the lobster. Also we have identified protein factors that are possibly used by the parasite to kill the lobster. Although this is very encouraging, probably the most exciting fact is that approximately 60% of the genes found are considered “unknown genes” and are likely found only in the Bumper car parasite. The next step will be to complete a comprehensive analysis of these “unknown genes” to determine if they play a role in the disease causing mechanism of the Bumper car parasite in lobsters. One of the goals of all this data collection and analysis is to provide us with a better understanding of the interactions of the Bumper car parasite and the lobster. This hopefully will allow us to better manage the lobster stock by:

1) Developing sensitive molecular tools for detecting and monitoring the presence of the parasite in lobsters, lobster pounds and the environment; and,
2) Once identified, these new genes from the genomics project will be used in the second part of the project to identify targets for potential drug design or immunostimulants.

In the end, the more knowledge that we gain on parasites and how they cause disease in lobsters allows us to achieve the ultimate goal to be able to better manage the lobster stock and maximizing the number of healthy lobsters that reach the consumer.

Collaborators :
Dr. Michael W. Gray, Lead Investigator, Protist EST Project, Dalhousie University.
Dr. Robert Holt, Head of Sequencing, Genome Sciences Centre-BC Cancer Agency.

In The Lab . . .

Laboratory Technicians Leaving the Team

Béatrice MacDONALD
Lead Laboratory Technician

In October, Béatrice joined Diagnostic Virology in the Atlantic Veterinary College.

Tim BURNLEY
Laboratory Technician

In December, Tim started graduate studies with the Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences in AVC.

Good luck in your new positions & THANK YOU for your contributions to the AVCLSC!

Lead Laboratory Technician Joins the Team

Rachael received a BSc degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, with a minor in Anthropology, from McMaster University (2002). She recently completed her MSc degree (2004) at McMaster in Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences. Her graduate research focused on x-ray crystallographic structure determination of bacterial enzymes in complex with inhibitors. At the AVC Lobster Science Centre, Rachael performs research on the isolation of antimicrobial peptides from hemolymph and characterization of proteins expressed during the acute phase response in lobsters.

The BioBubble (a registered trademark) is a self-contained, flexible and transportable room constructed from an aluminum framework and water-tight vinyl walls, ceiling and floor. The BioBubble is used at the AVCLSC to provide a BioSafety Level 2 quarantine facility (suitable for work involving infectious agents of moderate potential hazard to personnel and the environment) approved by Department of Fisheries and Oceans for the containment of Neoparamoeba pemaquidensis infection experiments in the AVCLSC Paramoebiasis activities.

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UPDATE is a quarterly communication from the AVC Lobster Science Centre at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada	Phone: (902) 894-2884 Fax: (902) 894-2885 Email: Lobster@upei.ca Website: www.LobsterScience.ca	AVC Lobster Science Centre University of Prince Edward Island 550 University Avenue, Charlottetown, PEI Canada C1A 4P3