Isotopic labeling and antifungal resistance as tracers of gut passage of the sea fan pathogen Aspergillus sydowii

Rypien, Krystal L.; Baker, David M.

doi:10.3354/dao02106

Cited by 20 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(59 reference statements)

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“…Identification of Drupella as a disease vector adds to the mounting evidence that a range of invertebrates play important roles in coral disease dynamics, including the fireworm Hermodice caranculata, a winter reservoir and summer vector of Vibrio shiloi (Sussman et al 2003); the mollusk Coralliophila abbreviata, a vector and interepizootic reservoir of the white pox pathogen (Sutherland et al 2011); and the crown-of-thorns starfish, A. planci, also a potential BrB vector (Nugues and Bak 2009). Like other predators, corallivorous snails and fishes can increase the likelihood of disease transmission by either actively transporting diseases between colonies (e.g., Sussman et al 2003;Rypien and Baker 2009;Sutherland et al 2011) or indirectly disrupting the antibiotic mucus protection of the coral, creating entry wounds for pathogens (Williams and Miller 2005;Dalton and Godwin 2006;Nugues and Bak 2009). Interestingly, the most effective vectors observed to date are mainly gastropods and polychaetes, raising the possibility that invertebrate mucus could play a role in transmitting pathogens as a consequence of their close and prolonged contact with diseased tissues.…”

Section: Disease Transmissionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is not clear, however, whether coral mortality resulting from disease attracts Drupella, or whether Drupella outbreaks promote coral disease. Other invertebrates have been associated with coral disease transmission; however, except for a few cases where pathogens have been identified within vector tissues (Sussman et al 2003;Rypien and Baker 2009;Sutherland et al 2011), coral predators may simply facilitate infection through injuring the coral host rather than actively transmitting the pathogen.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The corallivorous invertebrate Drupella aids in transmission of brown band disease on the Great Barrier Reef

et al. 2013

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Brown band disease (BrB) is an increasingly prevalent coral disease in the Indo-Pacific, but although the macroscopic signs of BrB have been associated with the ciliate Philaster guamensis, many aspects of its ecology remain unknown, particularly how the disease is transmitted among coral colonies. The aim of this study was to assess biotic factors affecting BrB transmission, explicitly testing whether corallivorous species contribute to disease spread. Several fish species were observed feeding on diseased tissue in the field, but did not influence either the progression or transmission rates of BrB on coral colonies in situ. In aquarium-based experiments, the butterflyfish Chaetodon aureofasciatus neither aided nor hindered the transmission of BrB from infected to uninfected corals. In contrast, the coral-feeding gastropod Drupella sp. was a highly effective vector of BrB, infecting more than 40 % of experimental colonies. This study also demonstrated the importance of injury in facilitating BrB infection, supporting the hypothesis that the BrB pathogen invades compromised coral tissue. In conclusion, disturbances and corallivorous activities that injure live corals are likely to contribute to increased occurrence of BrB provided that feeding scars create entry wounds sufficiently extensive to facilitate infection. These findings increase the understanding of the ecology of BrB, enabling better predictions of the prevalence and severity of this disease, and informing strategies for managing the impact of BrB on coral reefs.

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Section: Disease Transmissionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The corallivorous invertebrate Drupella aids in transmission of brown band disease on the Great Barrier Reef

et al. 2013

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“…Work by Jolles et al (2002) suggested that secondary transmission of the disease during peak years occurred within a range of 2-8 m. It is also possible that the disease can be spread by vectors. Laboratory studies have shown that spores of A. sydowii can pass through the gut of the gastropod Cyphoma gibbosum, a predator of sea fans, and remain viable (Rypien and Baker 2009). While some local transmission may occur, recent analysis of long-term aspergillosis monitoring data has shown that aspergillosis incidence and prevalence are independent of host density at most locations.…”

Section: Sea Fan Natural History and Etiology Of Aspergillosismentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of aspergillosis on sea fan coral demography: modeling a moving target

Bruno

Ellner

et al. 2011

Ecological Monographs

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Little is known about how epizootics in natural populations affect vital rates and population structure, or about the process of recovery after an outbreak subsides. We investigated the effects of aspergillosis, an infectious disease caused by the fungal pathogen Aspergillus sydowii, on the demography of a gorgonian coral, Gorgonia ventalina. Caribbean sea fans were affected by a seven‐year epizootic, marked by an initial period in 1994 of high infection prevalence, high mortality rates, and almost complete reproductive failure of infected fans. Post epizootic, in 2005, host populations were relatively healthy, with low disease prevalence. Using longitudinal data from populations on coral reefs in the Florida Keys (USA) and the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), we documented changes in the epidemiology of sea fan aspergillosis over the course of the epizootic. We developed an “integral projection model” that scales disease impacts from individual to population levels using direct estimates of vital rates. Within‐colony lesion growth rate and host mortality were higher during the peak of the epizootic. Effects on individuals and populations changed substantially post‐epizootic; recruitment increased, mortality of infected adults decreased, and the size dependence of infection was reduced. Elasticity analysis indicated that population growth is more sensitive to changes in the growth and survival of established colonies than to recruitment, due to slow colony growth and the longevity and fecundity of large adults. Disease prevalence in our monitored populations decreased from ∼50% in 1997 to <10% by 2003 and <1% in 2007 and was accompanied by very high mortality during the early stages of the epizootic. The population model suggested that host evolution (due to selection for higher disease resistance through differential mortality) could proceed quickly enough to explain the observed changes in prevalence and in the size independence of infection risk. Our model indicates that the time required for population recovery following an outbreak is largely determined by the percentage of healthy tissue lost from the population. However, recovery following an especially severe outbreak (i.e., 80% or more tissue loss) is much faster if the affected population receives an external supply of recruits from unaffected areas.

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“…In humans, this pathogen can cause peritonitis [15], but no intestinal diseases have been reported for this microorganism. Although the intestinal passage of A. sydowii in snails (vectors for Sea Fan disease) results in excretion of viable spores [16], we did not detect their presence in mouse feces using culture agar plates, indicating that intestinal colonization was negligible or that, alternatively, the intestinal transit and/or metabolites could make spores superdormant, a phenomenon known to occur by other means in other spore-forming microorganisms, namely, Bacillus spp. and Clostridium difficile [17].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Clinical Effects of Gamma-Radiation-ResistantAspergillus sydowiion Germ-Free Mice Immunologically Prone to Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Rodriguez-Palacios

Aladyshkina

Retuerto

et al. 2016

Journal of Pathogens

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We report and investigated a case of inadvertent contamination of 125 mice (housed in two germ-free positive-pressurized isolators) with emerging human and coral pathogen Aspergillus sydowii. The infected mice correspond to genetic line SAMP1/YitFc, which have 100% immune predisposition to develop Crohn's disease-like spontaneous pathologies, namely, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Pathogen update based on a scoping review of the literature and our clinical observations and experimentation are discussed. The unwanted infection of germ-free mice (immunologically prone to suffer chronic inflammation) with human pathogen A. sydowii resulted in no overt signs of clinical disease over 3-week exposure period, or during DSS-induced colitis experiments. Results and observations suggest that A. sydowii alone has limited clinical effect in immunocompromised germ-free mice or that other commensal microbial flora is required for Aspergillus-associated disease to occur.

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Isotopic labeling and antifungal resistance as tracers of gut passage of the sea fan pathogen Aspergillus sydowii

Cited by 20 publications

References 49 publications

The corallivorous invertebrate Drupella aids in transmission of brown band disease on the Great Barrier Reef

The corallivorous invertebrate Drupella aids in transmission of brown band disease on the Great Barrier Reef

Impacts of aspergillosis on sea fan coral demography: modeling a moving target

Clinical Effects of Gamma-Radiation-ResistantAspergillus sydowiion Germ-Free Mice Immunologically Prone to Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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