The quest to build a better oyster got a boost with a five-year, $4.4 million grant to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the Eastern Oyster Breeding Consortium.
The funds will be used to identify the genes that make oysters grow faster and bigger, more tolerant of acidic waters and low oxygen and salinity, and more resistant to a pair of parasitic diseases that have decimated the population.
Shellfish geneticist Standish “Stan” Allen calls it a “terrific opportunity to develop further ground-breaking approaches … and will hopefully deliver all the more results for industry.”
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