Sea Star Wasting Disease: Examining the associations between disease exposure, microbiome diversity, and host gene response
Conference Year
2024
Abstract
Sea Star Wasting (SSW) disease is an ongoing epidemic responsible for the mass mortality of sea stars causing cascading ecological and economic impacts across the west coast of North America. A significant obstacle impeding intervention on these outbreaks is identifying the pathogenic agents driving SSW, which have eluded the scientific community since 2013 when these large-scale outbreaks were first observed. In this study, we investigate concurrent changes in the microbiome and host gene expression to unveil interactions between these phenotypes in Naive, Exposed, and Wasting sunflower sea stars, Pycnopodia helianthoides, experiencing a natural outbreak of SSW.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Melissa Pespeno
Status
Graduate
Student College
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Program/Major
Plant and Soil Science
Primary Research Category
Life Sciences
Sea Star Wasting Disease: Examining the associations between disease exposure, microbiome diversity, and host gene response
Sea Star Wasting (SSW) disease is an ongoing epidemic responsible for the mass mortality of sea stars causing cascading ecological and economic impacts across the west coast of North America. A significant obstacle impeding intervention on these outbreaks is identifying the pathogenic agents driving SSW, which have eluded the scientific community since 2013 when these large-scale outbreaks were first observed. In this study, we investigate concurrent changes in the microbiome and host gene expression to unveil interactions between these phenotypes in Naive, Exposed, and Wasting sunflower sea stars, Pycnopodia helianthoides, experiencing a natural outbreak of SSW.