Aquaculture America 2026

February 16 - 19, 2026

Las Vegas, Nevada

Add To Calendar 19/02/2026 14:30:0019/02/2026 14:50:00America/Los_AngelesAquaculture America 2026NOVEL DUPLEX QPCR ASSAY DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION FOR EARLY DETECTION OF JUVENILE OYSTER DISEASE (JOD)Concorde AThe World Aquaculture Societyjohnc@was.orgfalseDD/MM/YYYYanrl65yqlzh3g1q0dme13067

NOVEL DUPLEX QPCR ASSAY DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION FOR EARLY DETECTION OF JUVENILE OYSTER DISEASE (JOD)

Arun Venugopalan* Joshua Reitsma, Abigail Archer, Rachel Hutchinson, Marta Gomez Chiarri, Jaypee Samson, Roxanna Smolowitz, Abigail K Scro, Matthew Charette, Rebecca Gast

 

College of Veterinary Medicine,

Mississippi State University, USA

Email: av724@msstate.edu

 



Juvenile Oyster Disease (JOD) causes devastating losses to the Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) industry, with mortality rates up to 100% in warmer temperatures. The primary causative agent is the bacterium Aliiroseovarius crassostreae. Current detection relies on traditional PCR, and the incomplete genome hinders discrimination of virulent A. crassostreae strains from environmental isolates. Here, we developed a duplex quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay targeting virulent A. crassostreae strains in Eastern oysters, validated according to Minimum Information for Publication of Quantitative Real-Time PCR Experiments (MIQE) guidelines, demonstrating an efficiency of 90-110%. Additionally, we assembled and annotated the complete genome of A. crassostreae (4.2 Mb) using Oxford Nanopore sequencing and performed phylogenomic analyses to clarify inter- and intra-species taxonomic relationships within the Roseobacter family. This integrated genomic and diagnostic approach enables rapid, specific detection of JOD, minimizing economic losses for oyster farmers.