The main objective of this project was to develop the tools for the in-depth understanding of mollusc biology and pathology. Such a goal has been reached in other biological systems through the development of molecular biology and cell culture. Indeed, development of a mollusc cell culture system is an essential step to approach many of the problems related to mollusc pathology, in particular to use molecular biology tools to study viral infection of these organisms. No continous cell line is available from bivalves and while cell cultures have been obtained from these organisms they are difficult to develop and labor intensive, survival cultures being maintained only for a few weeks. Our goal has been to study in detail many of the parameters involved in... |