Experimental ostreid herpesvirus 1 infection of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas: kinetics of virus DNA detection by q-PCR in seawater and in oyster samples.

Herpes- and herpes-like viruses are known to infect a wide range of bivalve mollusc species throughout the world. Abnormal summer mortalities associated to the detection of ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) have been currently reported in France among larvae and spat of the Pacific cupped oyster Crassostrea gigas. In the present work, we have developed an experimental protocol of horizontal transmission based on the cohabitation between healthy and experimentally infected oysters. Through a cohabitation trial, the kinetics of OsHV-1 detection in different oyster organs and seawater samples were investigated and characterized for the first time using real time quantitative PCR.