TY - JOUR T1 - Can shellfish be used to monitor SARS-CoV-2 in the coastal environment? A1 - Desdouits,Marion A1 - Piquet,Jean-Come A1 - Wacrenier,Candice A1 - Le Mennec,Cecile A1 - Parnaudeau,Sylvain A1 - Jousse,Sarah A1 - Rocq,Sophie A1 - Bigault,Lionel A1 - Contrant,Maud A1 - Garry,Pascal A1 - Chavanon,Fabienne A1 - Gabellec,Raoul A1 - Lamort,Laure A1 - Lebrun,Luc A1 - Le Gall,Patrik A1 - Meteigner,Claire A1 - Schmitt,Anne A1 - Seugnet,Jean-Luc A1 - Serais,Ophelie A1 - Peltier,Cécile A1 - Bressolette-Bodin,Céline A1 - Blanchard,Yannick A1 - Le Guyader,Soizick AD - Ifremer, laboratoire de Microbiologie, SG2M/LSEM, BP 21105, 44311 Nantes, France AD - ANSES, Génétique Virale et Biosécurité, Ploufragan, France AD - Ifremer, Laboratoire Environnement Ressource Provence-Azur-Corse, la Seyne sur Mer, France AD - Ifremer, Laboratoire Environnement Ressource Morbihan Pays de la Loire, Lorient, France AD - Ifremer, Laboratoire Environnement Ressource Normandie, Port en Bessin, France AD - Ifremer, Laboratoire Environnement Ressource Bretagne Occidentale, Concarneau, France AD - Ifremer, Laboratoire Environnement Ressource Bretagne Nord, Dinard, France AD - Ifremer, Laboratoire Environnement Ressource Pertuis-Charentais, la Tremblade, France AD - Ifremer, Laboratoire Environnement Ressource Languedoc Roussillon, Sète, France AD - Nantes Université, Centre de Recherche en Transplantation et Immunologie, UMR 1064, ITUN, 44000 Nantes, France AD - Ifremer, Laboratoire Environnement Ressource Arcachon, Arcachon, France UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146270 DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146270 KW - SARS-CoV-2 KW - Coastal environment KW - Seawater KW - Shellfish KW - Detection method KW - Genomic detection N2 - The emergence and worldwide spread of SARS-CoV-2 raises new concerns and challenges regarding possible environmental contamination by this virus through spillover of human sewage, where it has been detected. The coastal environment, under increasing anthropogenic pressure, is subjected to contamination by a large number of human viruses from sewage, most of them being non-enveloped viruses like norovirus. When reaching coastal waters, they can be bio-accumulated by filter-feeding shellfish species such as oysters. Methods to detect this viral contamination were set up for the detection of non-enveloped enteric viruses, and may need optimization to accommodate enveloped viruses like coronaviruses (CoV). Here, we aimed at assessing methods for the detection of CoV, including SARS-CoV-2, in the coastal environment and testing the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 can contaminate oysters, to monitor the contamination of French shores by SARS-CoV-2 using both seawater and shellfish. Using the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), a CoV, as surrogate for SARS-CoV-2, and Tulane virus, as surrogate for non-enveloped viruses such as norovirus, we assessed and selected methods to detect CoV in seawater and shellfish. Seawater-based methods showed variable and low yields for PEDV. In shellfish, the current norm for norovirus detection was applicable to CoV detection. Both PEDV and heat-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 could contaminate oysters in laboratory settings, with a lower efficiency than a calicivirus used as control. Finally, we applied our methods to seawater and shellfish samples collected from April to August 2020 in France, where we could detect the presence of human norovirus, a marker of human fecal contamination, but not SARS-CoV-2. Together, our results validate methods for the detection of CoV in the coastal environment, including the use of shellfish as sentinels of the microbial quality of their environment, and suggest that SARS-CoV-2 did not contaminate the French shores during the summer season. Y1 - 2021/07 PB - Elsevier BV JF - Science Of The Total Environment SN - 0048-9697 VL - 778 ID - 79569 ER -