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Julie Dagenais

Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is a tumor disease of marine turtles associated with Chelonid herpesvirus 5 (ChHV5) that has historically been refractory to growth in tissue culture. Here, we show for the first time de novo formation of ChHV5-positive intranuclear inclusions in cultured green turtle cells, which is indicative for active lytic replication of the virus. The minimal requirements to achieve lytic replication in cultured cells included 1) either in-vitro culturing of ChHV5-positive tumor biopsies or organotypic cultures consisting of ChHV5-positive turtle fibroblasts in collagen rafts seeded with ChHV5-negative or -positive turtle keratinocytes and 2) keratinocyte maturation, which occurred naturally in explanted...
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Echinoderms such as urchins are important in marine ecosystems, particularly as grazers, and unhealthy urchins can have important ecological implications. For instance, unexplained mortalities of Diadema sp. in the Caribbean were followed by algal overgrowth and subsequent collapse of coral reef ecosystems. Unfortunately few tools exist to evaluate echinoderm health making management of mortalities or other health issues problematic. Hematology is often used to assess animal health in many animal groups including invertebrates but is seldom applied to echninoderms. We used a standard gravitometric technique to concentrate fixed ceolomocytes from the collector urchin Tripneustes gratilla onto microscope slides permitting...
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As grazers, sea urchins are keystone species in tropical marine ecosystems, and their loss can have important ecological ramifications. Die-offs of urchins are frequently described but their causesare often unclear, in part because systematic examinations of animal tissues at gross and microscopic level are not done. In some areas, urchins are being employed to control invasive marine algae. Here we describe the pathology of a mortality event in Tripneustes gratilla in Hawaii where urchins were being translocated to control invasive algae. Although we did not determine the cause of the mortality event, our investigation suggests that animals died from inflammation of the test and epidermal ulceration followed by...
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Only one virus, Avipox, has been documented in wild birds in Hawaii. Here, using immunohistochemistry and PCR, we found that two native threatened Hawaiian geese, one with multicentric histiocytoma and another with toxoplasmosis and one Laysan albatross with avian pox were infected with reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV). The virus was isolated from one of the geese by cell culture. PCR surveys of other Hawaiian geese with various pathologies, avian pox cases, and pox viral isolates failed to reveal REV suggesting the virus is uncommon, at least in samples examined. The full genome of the Gag, Pol, and Env genes were sequenced for all three infected birds and revealed geographic divergence of the Pol gene suggesting...
Salmonella spp. are frequently shed by wildlife including turtles, but S. enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium or lesions associated with Salmonella are rare in turtles. Between 1996 and 2016, we necropsied 127 apparently healthy pelagic olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) that died from drowning bycatch in fisheries and 44 live or freshly dead stranded turtles from the west coast of North and Central America and Hawaii. Seven % (9/127) of pelagic and 47% (21/44) of stranded turtles had renal granulomas associated with S. Typhimurium. Stranded animals were 12 times more likely than pelagic animals to have Salmonella-induced nephritis suggesting that Salmonella may have been a contributing cause...
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