Acronym DEPURIFAGO
Category
Fisheries
Title Phage therapy - a new technology for bivalve purification Programme Nat. Programme (supported by ESIF)
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National-European Coordinator Adelaide Almeida Coordinator email NA
Coordinator institution
CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (Portugal)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2011 End year 2015 Funding (€) € 273,135 Website https://www.cesam-la.pt/projetos/depurofago-terapia-fagica-uma-nova-tecnologia-para-depuracao-de-bivalves/ Summary The proposed project aims to develop an effective procedure to decontaminate bivalves contaminated with microorganisms, employing a combination of two techniques, phage therapy and purification. This choice is due to the fact that bivalves are implicated in many infectious outbreaks, not only because they feed by filtration, but also because they are caught/farmed in contaminated beds and are consumed raw or poorly processed. It is also important to highlight the growing importance of world aquaculture as a compensation for the progressive reduction of natural bivalve populations. Unfortunately, they are often cultured in water contaminated by pathogenic microorganisms, including multi-resistant bacteria, which are easily transmitted to bivalves, resulting in the frequent need to decontaminate them through purification. To develop this procedure, the main pathogenic bacteria accumulated within two economically important bivalve species (clam and cockle) will be quantified and identified and subsequently used to select the most suitable phages for their inactivation. The interaction between pathogenic bacteria, phages and environmental factors will be studied, in pilot scrubbers set up for this purpose, in order to develop an appropriate phage therapy/clearance protocol for the decontamination of bivalves. The results will provide information on the feasibility of using phages to control pathogenic bacteria of bivalves during purification. The possibility of inactivating these bacteria with phages without any risk to the bivalves and the environment, makes decontamination safer and more effective, reducing the purification time, and avoiding the transmission of these infectious agents. The low cost of phage production and the reduction of purification time adds value to this new technology, making it attractive to companies and operators in the area.
Keywords
Food safety;
Mollusc;
Clam;
Bivalve;
Bacteria;
Shellfish;
Marine Region
38
Portuguese Waters (27.IXa,27.IXb)
1
Marine Region Map
