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Noroviruses are a common major cause of acute gastroenteritis in humans and are mainly associated with oyster consumption. In this investigation, 30 oysters of each of the two species (Saccostrea cucullataandSolen roseomaculatus) were collected from the northern Persian Gulf. Oysters have been exposed to norovirus genogroup II, genotype 4 (GII.4), artificially. The analysis of the contaminated oysters was carried out in three periods of time. Different oyster tissues were removed and tested for norovirus contamination, using conventional reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assay, while comparing the efficiency of two different sets of primers. Similar to previous observations in other species, these results indicated that norovirus genogroup II is mainly accumulated in the digestive diverticula ofS. cucullataandS. roseomaculatus. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Scleractinian coral species harbour communities of photosynthetic taxa of the genus Symbiodinium. As many as eight genetic clades (A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H) of Symbiodinium have been discovered using molecular biology. These clades may differ from each other in their physiology, and thus influence the ecological distribution and resilience of their host corals to environmental stresses. Corals of the Persian Gulf are normally subject to extreme environmental conditions including high salinity and seasonal variation in temperature. This study is the first to use molecular techniques to identify the Symbiodinium of the Iranian coral reefs to the level of phylogenetic clades. Samples of eight coral species were collected at two different depths from the eastern part of Kish Island in the northern Persian Gulf, and Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Partial 28S nuclear ribosomal (nr) DNA of Symbiodinium (D1/D2 domains) were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR products were analyzed using single stranded conformational polymorphism and phylogenetic analyses of the LSU DNA sequences from a subset of the samples. The results showed that Symbiodinium populations were generally uniform among and within the populations of eight coral species studied, and there are at least two clades of Symbiodinium from Kish and Larak islands. Clade D was detected from eight of the coral species while clade C was found in two of species only (one species hosted two clades simultaneously). The dominance of clade D might be explained by high temperatures or the extreme temperature variation, typical of the Persian Gulf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]