ABSTRACT. The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas was introduced in northwestern Mexico for aquaculture purposes. Although its cultivation has been successful, this species has shown high mortalities during summer. To mitigate this problem, producers have resorted to biotechnology (triploidy), whose performance -regarding diploid seedling- depends on site conditions and stocking time. Hence, uncertainty exists on its benefits under real production conditions. This research evaluates triploidy performance by implementing a dynamic simulation model considering environmental effects (temperature and chlorophyll) on culture production. The dynamic simulation was based on systems theory, dividing the productive system into two sub-models (environmental and biological), including temperature and chlorophyll effects, growth, mortality, and condition index parameterized in the function of the environmental parameters. The dynamic simulation results suggest that implementing triploid culture is advantageous in zones under high stress associated with high temperature and low productivity; likewise, triploid spat tends to show better performance independently of the site. Nevertheless, performance by ploidy varies depending on the environmental conditions of the sites.

Tissue invasion and pathology by Trypanosoma cruzi result from an interaction between parasite virulence and host immunity. Successive in vivo generations of the parasite select populations with increasing ability to invade the host. Conversely, prolonged in vitro selection of the parasite produces attenuated sublines with low infectivity for mammals. One such subline (TCC clone) has been extensively used in our laboratory as experimental vaccine and tested in comparative experiments with its virulent ancestor (TUL). The experiments here reviewed aimed at the use of immunodeficient mice for testing the infectivity of TCC parasites. It has not been possible to obtain virulent, revertant sublines by prolonged passaged in such mice.