Comparing bacterial community composition of healthy and dark spot-affected Siderastrea siderea in Florida and the Caribbean

PLoS ONE
By: , and 

Links

Abstract

Coral disease is one of the major causes of reef degradation. Dark Spot Syndrome (DSS) was described in the early 1990's as brown or purple amorphous areas of tissue on a coral and has since become one of the most prevalent diseases reported on Caribbean reefs. It has been identified in a number of coral species, but there is debate as to whether it is in fact the same disease in different corals. Further, it is questioned whether these macroscopic signs are in fact diagnostic of an infectious disease at all. The most commonly affected species in the Caribbean is the massive starlet coral Siderastrea siderea. We sampled this species in two locations, Dry Tortugas National Park and Virgin Islands National Park. Tissue biopsies were collected from both healthy colonies and those with dark spot lesions. Microbial-community DNA was extracted from coral samples (mucus, tissue, and skeleton), amplified using bacterial-specific primers, and applied to PhyloChip G3 microarrays to examine the bacterial diversity associated with this coral. Samples were also screened for the presence of a fungal ribotype that has recently been implicated as a causative agent of DSS in another coral species, but the amplifications were unsuccessful. S. siderea samples did not cluster consistently based on health state (i.e., normal versus dark spot). Various bacteria, including Cyanobacteria and Vibrios, were observed to have increased relative abundance in the discolored tissue, but the patterns were not consistent across all DSS samples. Overall, our findings do not support the hypothesis that DSS in S. siderea is linked to a bacterial pathogen or pathogens. This dataset provides the most comprehensive overview to date of the bacterial community associated with the scleractinian coral S. siderea.
Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Comparing bacterial community composition of healthy and dark spot-affected Siderastrea siderea in Florida and the Caribbean
Series title PLoS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0108767
Volume 9
Issue 10
Year Published 2014
Language English
Publisher Public Library of Science
Publisher location San Francisco, CA
Contributing office(s) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
Description 9 p.
Larger Work Type Article
Larger Work Subtype Journal Article
Larger Work Title PLoS ONE
Country United States
State Florida
Other Geospatial Caribbean Sea, Dry Tortugas National Park, Virgin Islands National Park
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details