Association of bacteria to the life cycle of Argopecten purpuratus

Agropecten purpuratus is a bivalve mollusc belonging to the Pectinidae fami ly. Nowadays this resource have a great economical value in Chile due to th e increasing of aquaculture activities in the last years. However, one of t he most important culture problematics is the supply of seeds under artific ial conditions due to the high mortalities attributed mainly to bacterial i nfections. This has led to relate to the bacteria with negative aspects in the culture of this bivalve. In this review the role of bacteria and their interactions with marine organisms, specially Argopecten purpuratus is anal ysed, aiming at contributing with knowledge on the bacteriology of this spe cie.