Aquaculture is one of the fastest-growing food production sectors worldwide and plays a key role in ensuring future food security. However, infectious diseases remain one of the main constraints to sustainable fish and shellfish production. In Europe, the emerging bacterial pathogen Vibrio aestuarianus has caused recurrent mass mortality events in Pacific oysters (Magallana gigas), leading to substantial economic losses for the oyster industry. At the same time, coastal ecosystems are increasingly exposed to environmental changes, including metal pollution, which may influence the interactions between pathogens and their hosts. Despite its importance, the role of environmental copper in oyster health and disease remained largely unknown.
The VibOysCopper project aimed to investigate how environmentally relevant copper exposure influences the interaction between Vibrio aestuarianus and Pacific oysters. Rather than considering copper solely as an environmental pollutant, the project explored whether it could affect bacterial virulence, oyster immune responses and the overall outcome of infection. To address this question, the project combined controlled infection experiments, bacterial and host transcriptomics, microbiome analyses and functional assays to investigate the biological responses of both the pathogen and the host.
By improving our understanding of the mechanisms driving bacterial diseases in oysters, the project contributes to the development of more sustainable aquaculture practices and provides scientific knowledge relevant for disease prevention, environmental risk assessment and shellfish health management. The results are expected to support future research and contribute to improving the resilience of European aquaculture under changing environmental conditions.
