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"Disease emergence is accelerating worldwide and understanding by which mechanisms host populations can rapidly adapt to emerging pathogens is crucial for the development of management practices. Among the biotic interactions studied at IHPE, the Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS) affecting spat oysters is a remarquable context to study mechanisms of host adaptation to ongoing disease.

In this study, we used approaches from the biomedical field to identify epigenetic and genetic signatures of selection occurring in oyster facing recurrently POMS outbreaks. Interestingly, we showed that resistance/susceptibility to POMS was first explained by the interactions between the genetic and epigenetic information, then by the epigenetic and finally the genetic.

We therefore conclude that like genetically based adaptation, epigenetic mechanisms can contribute substantially to rapid adaptation of hosts to emerging infectious diseases."