The creation of a Portuguese biobank for marine resources is deemed a strategic priority, to increase the current knowledge on the planet’s biodiversity, and to contribute to the visibility of national marine bioresources and its economic valorization at both national and international chains. In view of the above, the Portuguese Blue Biobank (BAP) project was established in 2022 and focuses on the implementation of a national network of marine resources Biobanks. Both S2AQUAcoLAB, a collaborative laboratory for a Sustainable and Smart Aquaculture, and IPMA/EPPO, a state laboratory that has a pilot Aquaculture Research Station, are two of the partners of the Portuguese Blue Biobank consortium.
More specifically, S2AQUAcoLAB’ collection is focused on: 1) pathogenic bacteria (e.g. Photobacterium spp., Tenacibaculum spp. and more than eight Vibrio species) isolated from different marine organisms (identity confirmed by biochemical and molecular tools), that can be used for pathogenic challenges to unveil mitigation strategies for disease outbreaks or for the development of preventive tools, such as vaccines; 2) fish-derived cell lines (e.g. gonads, branchial arches, jaw and vertebra from A. regius) with high potential for cellular in vitro research, aiming at reducing the in vivo experimentation; 3) macroalgae collected from the Portuguese coast, which can be used for bioremediation, deployment to off-shore environment (for IMTA purposes). In the scope of this biobank, molecular identification protocols were successfully implemented (e.g. Ulva spp., Gracilaria spp., Chondrus spp., Saccorhiza spp., Laminaria spp., and Codium spp.)
IPMA’s collection consists in 1) parasites (e.g. Amoebas spp., Amyloodinium ocellatum and several Monogeneans species) isolated from marine organisms cultured at the EPPO. Parasite’s in vitro culture allow for a better knowledge of their life cycle, and the development of early diagnosis tools for infections as well as more effective treatments; 2) microalgae (including Tetraselmis sp., Chlorococum sp., Nannochloropsis occulata, Rhodomonas salina, Phaeodatilum tricornotum, Skeletonema sp. among others), used in aquaculture for both environmental and nutritional enrichment in early stages of marine organisms’ culture. Overall, the Portuguese Blue Biobank project will enable the development of different collections representative of the marine biodiversity and related biotechnological resources important for the development of the Blue Biotechnology sector, including Aquaculture.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the WP9- Portuguese Blue Biobank under the Blue Economy Pact - Project Nº. C644915664-00000026 co-funded by PRR, The Portuguese Republic and the European Union and SAUDE&AQUA II (MAR-021.1.3-FEAMPA-00018) project.