Small water bodies and water infrastructure such as dams, locks, docks, and pipelines can be periodically cleared of invasive dreissenid mussels with anti-mollusk chemicals and manual removal, but…

Small water bodies and water infrastructure such as dams, locks, docks, and pipelines can be periodically cleared of invasive dreissenid mussels with anti-mollusk chemicals and manual removal, but what can be done about large, open waterways where eradication with physical or chemical agents is neither logistically nor economically feasible our group has been working for three years on project aimed at developing transformed cell lines from invasive dreissenid mussels that will dramatically advance our knowledge of these animals and lead to potential new strategies for their control. One of the most promising control strategies that these cells represent is an agent theoretically capable of eliminating invasive dreissenid mussels from large water bodies safely, cost-effectively, and most importantly, without damaging the delicate ecosystems of our north american waterways. If we are successful in developing this anti-dreissenid agent using the cell lines we propose to create, the threat of invasive mussels in north america could be eliminated completely. The eradication agent we propose mimics a natural pathogenic mechanism found in marine bivalves called a disseminated neoplasia (DN). A DN is a form of cancer where the cancer cells themselves travel between organisms in a specific-species manner causing toxicity and progressive death in the host. One distinct advantage of a DN-based eradication agent is that IT poses no threat to animals or plants other than the host species from which the DN is derived. Another advantage is that when the last host organism dies, the DN dies with IT, leaving no remnant in the environment. Engineered DNS are not the same as genetically modified organisms (gmos) that can survive and reproduce autonomously. Instead, they are like every other natural cell found in zebra or quagga mussels, and can only survive and thrive when they are housed within the mussel body. Our project proposes to use the derived transformed cell lines directly, or further engineer them as a DN for dreissenid mussels that can infiltrate them and eliminate them from large water bodies such as lake mead or lake powell over the course of several years while leaving all native species (including humans) unaffected and healthy. To date, we have established invasive mussel aquaculture in our laboratory, determined methods for the prolonged survival of dissociated mussel cells in culture, constructed plasmid DNA vectors for transgene expression in mussel cells, and produced quagga and zebra mussel embryos in the lab by in vitro fertilization. Despite this progress, all of our efforts to move novel genetic material into invasive mussel cells and tissues have not been sufficiently successful to move US closer to the engineered cells needed to create the DN. With the help of the QZAP2.0 initiative, we hope to fund a scientist to further explore microinjection as a means of introducing foreign DNA into dreissenid embryos. We will demonstrate the expression of foreign DNA in dreissenid embryos and cells and the stable modification of the dreissenid genome by transgene integration or mutation using crispr CAS9. Once this goal is accomplished, we propose to use this new knowledge to produce and characterize culturable cell lines that will advance molluskan biology and serve as the core of an invasive mussel eradication strategy.