OPTIMAL CULTURE CONDITIONS FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE OYSTER PATHOGENPERKINSUS-MARINUS (APICOMPLEXA) IN PROTEIN-DEFICIENT MEDIUM

The protozoan, Perkinsus marinus, acclimated and proliferated in the c ulture medium JL-ODRP-1 without bovine serum albumin. The principal cu lture conditions for the optimal propagation of P. marinus in this pro tein deficient culture medium, were determined. The greatest growth ra tes of the parasite occurred at 28 degrees C, 661 mOsm/kg and pH 7.5. Decreasing seeding densities from 16 x 10(5) to 1 x 10(5) also increas ed growth rate. After several passages in the absence of 5% CO2 tensio n, the growth rate of P. marinus was similar to its original value in the presence of 5% CO2 tension. This protein deficient culture medium is ideally suited to study parasite-derived proteins since P. marinus extracellular proteins in culture supernatants were produced and were easily detected by gel electrophoresis and silver staining.