A comparison of culture-dependent and culture-independent techniques used to characterize bacterial communities on healthy and white plague-diseased corals of the Montastraea annularis species complex

Cook, G. M. W.; Rothenberger, J. P.; Sikaroodi, Masoumeh; Gillevet, Patrick M.; Peters, Esther C.; Jonas, Robert B.

doi:10.1007/s00338-012-0989-6

Cited by 15 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…However, similar disease signs in different parts of the Caribbean have not been associated with A. coralicida (Pantos et al 2003). For instance, Cook et al (2013) detected A. coralicida in low abundances in samples from both WP affected corals and apparently healthy corals, suggesting it was not the etiological agent of the observed WP signs. However, Gray et al (2013) identified PCR bias as a potential mechanism preventing the detection of A. coralicida in WP samples.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Multiple mechanisms of transmission of the Caribbean coral disease white plague

Clemens

Brandt

2015

Coral Reefs

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White plague is one of the most devastating coral diseases in the Caribbean, and yet important aspects of its epidemiology, including how the disease transmits, remain unknown. This study tested potential mechanisms and rates of transmission of white plague in a laboratory setting. Transmission mechanisms including the transport of water, contact with macroalgae, and predation via corallivorous worms and snails were tested on the host species Orbicella annularis. Two of the tested mechanisms were shown to transmit disease: water transport and the corallivorous snail Coralliophila abbreviata. Between these transmission mechanisms, transport of water between a diseased coral and a healthy coral resulted in disease incidence significantly more frequently in exposed healthy corals. Transmission via water transport also occurred more quickly and was associated with higher rates of tissue loss (up to 3.5 cm d -1 ) than with the corallivorous snail treatment. In addition, water that was in contact with diseased corals but was filtered with a 0.22-lm filter prior to being introduced to apparently healthy corals also resulted in the transmission of disease signs, but at a much lower rate than when water was not filtered. This study has provided important information on the transmission potential of Caribbean white plague disease and highlights the need for a greater understanding of how these processes operate in the natural environment.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Multiple mechanisms of transmission of the Caribbean coral disease white plague

Clemens

Brandt

2015

Coral Reefs

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“…While several microbial diseases have in the past been explained by single pathogens, such as the mortality of shrimp caused by Vibrio harveyi (Austin and Zhang, ), the white pox disease of corals caused by Serratia marcescens (Patterson et al ., ) and the brown ring disease of clams due to Vibrio tapetis infection (Allam et al ., ), the causative agents of disease in many marine organisms often remain unknown, are polymicrobial [e.g. black band disease of corals (Sato et al ., )] or are inconsistently reported (Bourne et al ., , Cook et al ., , Joyner et al ., ). Moreover, it has been proposed, but not experimentally addressed, that some marine diseases can be caused not by just one but likely multiple individual pathogens and that these may be opportunistic in nature (Brown et al ., , Burge et al ., , Cook et al ., , Egan et al ., , Joyner et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…black band disease of corals (Sato et al ., )] or are inconsistently reported (Bourne et al ., , Cook et al ., , Joyner et al ., ). Moreover, it has been proposed, but not experimentally addressed, that some marine diseases can be caused not by just one but likely multiple individual pathogens and that these may be opportunistic in nature (Brown et al ., , Burge et al ., , Cook et al ., , Egan et al ., , Joyner et al ., ). Opportunistic pathogens are defined here as those that are present on both healthy and diseased hosts but only become harmful following a disturbance of their host (Brown et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple opportunistic pathogens can cause a bleaching disease in the red seaweed Delisea pulchra

Kumar

Zozaya‐Valdés

Kjelleberg

et al. 2016

Environmental Microbiology

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While macroalgae (or seaweeds) are increasingly recognized to suffer from disease, in most cases the causative agents are unknown. The model macroalga Delisea pulchra is susceptible to a bleaching disease and previous work has identified two epiphytic bacteria, belonging to the Roseobacter clade, that cause bleaching under laboratory conditions. However, recent environmental surveys have shown that these in vitro pathogens are not abundant in naturally bleached D. pulchra, suggesting the presence of other pathogens capable of causing this algal disease. To test this hypothesis, we cultured bacteria that were abundant on bleached tissue across multiple disease events and assessed their ability to cause bleaching disease. We identified the new pathogens Alteromonas sp. BL110, Aquimarina sp. AD1 and BL5 and Agarivorans sp BL7 that are phylogenetically diverse, distinct from the previous two pathogens and can also be found in low abundance in healthy individuals. Moreover, we found that bacterial communities of diseased individuals that were infected with these pathogens were less diverse and more divergent from each other than those of healthy algae. This study demonstrates that multiple and opportunistic pathogens can cause the same disease outcome for D. pulchra and we postulate that such pathogens are more common in marine systems than previously anticipated.

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“…In addition to supporting macroscopic reef communities, corals also host diverse microbial consortia that include Symbiodinium dinoflagellates, bacteria, archaea, fungi and other microbial eukaryotes (Knowlton and Rohwer, 2003;Cróquer et al, 2006). Culture-based studies have demonstrated that these coral-associated microbes (the coral microbiota) take on a variety of roles ranging from mutualistic to pathogenic (Rohwer et al, 2001;Ritchie, 2006;Mouchka et al, 2010;Rosenberg and Kushmaro, 2011;Cook et al, 2013). For example, while bacteria such as Serratia marcescens, Vibrio shiloi and Vibrio coralliilyticus have been shown to cause disease signs (Ben-Haim, 2003;Rosenberg and Falkovitz, 2004;Sutherland et al, 2011), Photobacterium spp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, unless the target host is amenable to culturing, identifying the phages that associate with target bacteria and can therefore be used for phage therapy will be constrained. Since 35-90% of bacteria from the environment are not cultivable, we are limited in our understanding of the interactions between the coral microbiota and its phage predators (Rappé and Giovannoni, 2003;Cook et al, 2013). Furthermore, it has been difficult to predict bacteria-phage interactions as phages have variable host ranges and bacteria differ in their susceptibility to individual phages or multiple phages (Flores et al, 2011;Weitz and Wilhelm, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phage–bacteria network analysis and its implication for the understanding of coral disease

Soffer

Zaneveld

Thurber

2014

Environmental Microbiology

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Multiple studies have explored microbial shifts in diseased or stressed corals; however, little is known about bacteriophage interactions with microbes in this context. This study characterized microbial 16S rRNA amplicons and phage metagenomes associated with Montastraea annularis corals during a concurrent white plague disease outbreak and bleaching event. Phage consortia differed between bleached and diseased tissues. Phages in the family Inoviridae were elevated in diseased or healthy tissues compared with bleached portions of diseased tissues. Microbial communities also differed between diseased and bleached corals. Bacteria in the orders Rhodobacterales and Campylobacterales were increased while Kiloniellales was decreased in diseased compared with other tissues. A network of phage-bacteria interactions was constructed of all phage strains and 11 bacterial genera that differed across health states. Phage-bacteria interactions varied in specificity: phages interacted with one to eight bacterial hosts while bacteria interacted with up to 59 phages. Six phages were identified that interacted exclusively with Rhodobacterales and Campylobacterales. These results suggest that phages have a role in controlling stress-associated bacteria, and that networks can be utilized to select potential phages for mitigating detrimental bacterial growth in phage therapy applications.

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A comparison of culture-dependent and culture-independent techniques used to characterize bacterial communities on healthy and white plague-diseased corals of the Montastraea annularis species complex

Cited by 15 publications

References 49 publications

Multiple mechanisms of transmission of the Caribbean coral disease white plague

Multiple mechanisms of transmission of the Caribbean coral disease white plague

Multiple opportunistic pathogens can cause a bleaching disease in the red seaweed Delisea pulchra

Phage–bacteria network analysis and its implication for the understanding of coral disease

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