Protozoan Parasites of Bivalve Molluscs: Literature Follows Culture

Bivalve molluscs are key components of the estuarine environments as contributors to the trophic chain, and as filter –feeders, for maintaining ecosystem integrity. Further, clams, oysters, and scallops are commercially exploited around the world both as traditional local shellfisheries, and as inte...

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Main Authors:	Fernández Robledo, José A., Vasta, Gerardo R., Record, Nicholas R.
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Public Library of Science 2014
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4067406/

id	pubmed-4067406
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-40674062014-06-25 Protozoan Parasites of Bivalve Molluscs: Literature Follows Culture Fernández Robledo, José A. Vasta, Gerardo R. Record, Nicholas R. Research Article Bivalve molluscs are key components of the estuarine environments as contributors to the trophic chain, and as filter –feeders, for maintaining ecosystem integrity. Further, clams, oysters, and scallops are commercially exploited around the world both as traditional local shellfisheries, and as intensive or semi–intensive farming systems. During the past decades, populations of those species deemed of environmental or commercial interest have been subject to close monitoring given the realization that these can suffer significant decline, sometimes irreversible, due to overharvesting, environmental pollution, or disease. Protozoans of the genera Perkinsus, Haplosporidium, Marteilia, and Bonamia are currently recognized as major threats for natural and farmed bivalve populations. Since their identification, however, the variable publication rates of research studies addressing these parasitic diseases do not always appear to reflect their highly significant environmental and economic impact. Here we analyzed the peer– reviewed literature since the initial description of these parasites with the goal of identifying potential milestone discoveries or achievements that may have driven the intensity of the research in subsequent years, and significantly increased publication rates. Our analysis revealed that after initial description of the parasite as the etiological agent of a given disease, there is a time lag before a maximal number of yearly publications are reached. This has already taken place for most of them and has been followed by a decrease in publication rates over the last decade (20– to 30– year lifetime in the literature). Autocorrelation analyses, however, suggested that advances in parasite purification and culture methodologies positively drive publication rates, most likely because they usually lead to novel molecular tools and resources, promoting mechanistic studies. Understanding these trends should help researchers in prioritizing research efforts for these and other protozoan parasites, together with their development as model systems for further basic and translational research in parasitic diseases. Public Library of Science 2014-06-23 /pmc/articles/PMC4067406/ /pubmed/24955977 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100872 Text en © 2014 Fernández Robledo et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Fernández Robledo, José A. Vasta, Gerardo R. Record, Nicholas R.
spellingShingle	Fernández Robledo, José A. Vasta, Gerardo R. Record, Nicholas R. Protozoan Parasites of Bivalve Molluscs: Literature Follows Culture
author_facet	Fernández Robledo, José A. Vasta, Gerardo R. Record, Nicholas R.
author_sort	Fernández Robledo, José A.
title	Protozoan Parasites of Bivalve Molluscs: Literature Follows Culture
title_short	Protozoan Parasites of Bivalve Molluscs: Literature Follows Culture
title_full	Protozoan Parasites of Bivalve Molluscs: Literature Follows Culture
title_fullStr	Protozoan Parasites of Bivalve Molluscs: Literature Follows Culture
title_full_unstemmed	Protozoan Parasites of Bivalve Molluscs: Literature Follows Culture
title_sort	protozoan parasites of bivalve molluscs: literature follows culture
description	Bivalve molluscs are key components of the estuarine environments as contributors to the trophic chain, and as filter –feeders, for maintaining ecosystem integrity. Further, clams, oysters, and scallops are commercially exploited around the world both as traditional local shellfisheries, and as intensive or semi–intensive farming systems. During the past decades, populations of those species deemed of environmental or commercial interest have been subject to close monitoring given the realization that these can suffer significant decline, sometimes irreversible, due to overharvesting, environmental pollution, or disease. Protozoans of the genera Perkinsus, Haplosporidium, Marteilia, and Bonamia are currently recognized as major threats for natural and farmed bivalve populations. Since their identification, however, the variable publication rates of research studies addressing these parasitic diseases do not always appear to reflect their highly significant environmental and economic impact. Here we analyzed the peer– reviewed literature since the initial description of these parasites with the goal of identifying potential milestone discoveries or achievements that may have driven the intensity of the research in subsequent years, and significantly increased publication rates. Our analysis revealed that after initial description of the parasite as the etiological agent of a given disease, there is a time lag before a maximal number of yearly publications are reached. This has already taken place for most of them and has been followed by a decrease in publication rates over the last decade (20– to 30– year lifetime in the literature). Autocorrelation analyses, however, suggested that advances in parasite purification and culture methodologies positively drive publication rates, most likely because they usually lead to novel molecular tools and resources, promoting mechanistic studies. Understanding these trends should help researchers in prioritizing research efforts for these and other protozoan parasites, together with their development as model systems for further basic and translational research in parasitic diseases.
publisher	Public Library of Science
publishDate	2014
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4067406/
_version_	1612104949203730432

Protozoan Parasites of Bivalve Molluscs: Literature Follows Culture

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