Pecten maximus (King scallop)

The king scallop (Pecten maximus) is an important fisheries and aquaculture resource. Some diatom species of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia produce domoic acid (DA), a toxin that can cause Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP) in humans. During the harmful algae blooms the bivalves accumulate the toxins in their tissues. In many bivalves, including the king scallop (P. maximus), the digestive gland is the main organ of accumulation of domoic acid. A group of scallops were subjected to injections of domoic acid in filtered seawater , whereas the other animals (control group) were injected with the same volume of filtered seawater. Six injections were made into the adductor muscle of each scallop in alternate days. A transcriptomic approach (RNA-seq) was used to identify the genes differentially expressed in the digestive gland of the king scallop P. maximus after the injection of domoic acid.