Integrating microbiological, microsensor, molecular, and physiologic techniques in the study of coral disease pathogenesis

Potential role of viruses in white plague coral disease

“…One coral disease of particular ecological importance is white plague (WP), a rapid tissue loss disease that affects multiple species of Caribbean corals, including dominant reef-building Montastraea species. Caribbean WP is characterized by lesions that begin basally or peripherally on a colony, and then progress rapidly (mm to cm per day) across the colony surface resulting in partial to total colony mortality (Richardson et al, 2001;Miller et al, 2006;Weil et al, 2006). Three types of WP (I, II and III) are differentiated based on tissue loss progression rates, with type I progressing the slowest (a few mm per day), type II progressing at a maximum rate of 2 cm per day and type III progressing the fastest (42 cm per day; Dustan, 1977;Richardson et al, 1998Richardson et al, , 2001.…”

“…Caribbean WP is characterized by lesions that begin basally or peripherally on a colony, and then progress rapidly (mm to cm per day) across the colony surface resulting in partial to total colony mortality (Richardson et al, 2001;Miller et al, 2006;Weil et al, 2006). Three types of WP (I, II and III) are differentiated based on tissue loss progression rates, with type I progressing the slowest (a few mm per day), type II progressing at a maximum rate of 2 cm per day and type III progressing the fastest (42 cm per day; Dustan, 1977;Richardson et al, 1998Richardson et al, , 2001. Although an infectious agent, the bacterium Aurantimonas coralicida, was hypothesized to be the cause of WP type II in the coral Dichocoenia stokesii (Richardson et al, 1998;Denner et al, 2003), A. coralicida is not always associated with WP-infected coral colonies.…”

Investigating the Driving Mechanisms Behind Differences in Bleaching and Disease Susceptibility Between Two Scleractinian Corals, Pseudodiploria Strigosa and Diploria Labyrinthiformis

“…As specified in Work et al (2012) and Bourne et al (2015), the subsequent step after identifying a potential pathogen in aquarium-based experiments is to isolate that pathogen in the field, and examine the infection at the cellular level and subcellular. The Rhodobacteraceae family needs to be examined beyond 16S rRNA sequencing through culturing and the defining of physiological characteristics (see Richardson et al 2001). The microbial dynamics between gall crabs and corals needs to be documented.…”

“…As with the majority of coral disease, white plague is identified on the basis of macroscopic phenotypic characteristics (Ainsworth et al 2007), primarily a distinct, rapidly progressing boundary between coral diseased tissue and recently exposed (white) skeleton (Dustan 1977;Bythell et al 2004). Three types of white plague (Types I, II, and III) have been defined by lesion progression rate, prevalence rates, and coral species affected (Richardson 1998b;Richardson et al 2001;Bythell et al 2004). However, there is a need to apply microbiological, histological, and cytological methods in addition to physiological characteristics, when describing coral diseases such as white plague (Richardson et al 2001;Ainsworth et al 2007;Kellogg et al 2013;Bourne et al 2015).…”

“…Three types of white plague (Types I, II, and III) have been defined by lesion progression rate, prevalence rates, and coral species affected (Richardson 1998b;Richardson et al 2001;Bythell et al 2004). However, there is a need to apply microbiological, histological, and cytological methods in addition to physiological characteristics, when describing coral diseases such as white plague (Richardson et al 2001;Ainsworth et al 2007;Kellogg et al 2013;Bourne et al 2015). Such studies have led to proposed potential pathogens, including Aurantimonas coralicida (Denner et al 2003), and Thalassomonas loyana in the Red Sea (Thompson et al 2006), yet no one pathogen is consistently found in all white plague lesions.…”