Dissemination of Perkinsus olseni is affected by the viability of Ruditapes philippinarum

This study was conducted in order to elucidate the dissemination mechanism of P. olseni using field and laboratory experiments. For this purpose, we quantified the level of P. olseni infection in buried (healthy) and surfaced (gapped) R. philippinarum from a clam bed on Wi-do Island on the west coast of Korea. In addition, the levels of internal and released P. olseni cells from artificially infected (and later dead) R. philippinarum were monitored for 8 days using the RFTM-2 M NaOH lysis method. Our results indicate that P. olseni cells in buried R. philippinarum was ; the level in gapped R. philippinarum was considerably lower, (p