Fernández Robledo José A, Vasta Gerardo R, Record Nicholas R
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Boothbay, Maine, United States of America.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland Baltimore, School of Medicine, Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2014 Jun 23;9(6):e100872. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100872. eCollection 2014.
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.
双壳贝类软体动物是河口环境的关键组成部分，作为营养链的贡献者以及滤食性生物，对维持生态系统的完整性具有重要作用。此外，蛤蜊、牡蛎和扇贝在世界各地都有商业开发，既作为传统的当地贝类渔业，也作为集约化或半集约化养殖系统。在过去几十年中，鉴于人们认识到这些具有环境或商业价值的物种可能因过度捕捞、环境污染或疾病而遭受显著减少，有时甚至不可逆转，因此对它们的种群进行了密切监测。目前，珀金氏菌属、单孢子虫属、马尔太虫属和博纳米虫属的原生动物被认为是天然和养殖双壳贝类种群的主要威胁。然而，自它们被发现以来，针对这些寄生虫病的研究论文发表率参差不齐，似乎并未充分反映出它们对环境和经济造成的重大影响。在此，我们分析了自这些寄生虫最初被描述以来的同行评审文献，目的是确定可能推动后续年份研究强度并显著提高发表率的潜在里程碑式发现或成就。我们的分析表明，在将寄生虫首次描述为特定疾病的病原体之后，需要一段时间才能达到每年发表论文数量的最大值。大多数寄生虫已经经历了这一阶段，随后在过去十年中发表率有所下降（在文献中的生命周期为20至30年）。然而，自相关分析表明，寄生虫纯化和培养方法的进展对发表率有积极的推动作用，这很可能是因为它们通常会带来新的分子工具和资源，从而促进机理研究。了解这些趋势应有助于研究人员为这些及其他原生动物寄生虫的研究工作确定优先次序，并将它们发展成为寄生虫病进一步基础研究和转化研究的模型系统。
