Name: Jennifer Herrera
Date: 05/28/2025
Time (EST/EDT): 10:00 am
Location: IMET Auditorium
Remote Access: email: mees@umd.edu

Committee Chair: Dr. Eric Schott
Committee Members: Dr. Eric Schott Dr. Tsvetan Bachvaroff Dr. Allison Tracy

Title: Identification and Characterization of Novel Viruses Associated with the Atlantic Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus, across Its United States Geographic Range

Abstract: The Atlantic blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, supports a multi-million dollar U.S fishery and plays critical roles in benthic food webs. Recent blue crab population declines in the Mid-Atlantic highlight the need to better understand potential threats to the fishery, including understudied pathogenic viruses. To gain a preliminary understanding of the viral communities associated with the blue crab, we performed a virus-enrichment protocol on specimens collected from six U.S. states along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. We discovered a total of 97 putative viral sequences, of which 29 were high-quality genomes with a k-mer coverage >10. Positive-sense RNA viruses were especially prominent, with provisional Picornavirales members constituting 19 of the 29 genomes. Beyond the Picornavirales, seven other positive-sense, two negative-sense, and one double-stranded RNA virus were identified. Finally, this survey yielded potential insights into viral geographic distributions.  This research expands our current knowledge of viruses associated with the blue crab across multiple U.S. states. The knowledge generated here will enable investigation of the pathogenicity of novel blue crab viruses, which is especially relevant in the face of climate change and the interstate transport of marine resources. Ultimately, such research can help monitor and mitigate the spread of shellfish pathogens.