The Wasting Disease of Zostera Marina

Renn, Charles E.

doi:10.2307/1537320

Cited by 78 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…These encompassed 41 separate treatments, including re-testing of several isolates. Protocols generally followed those of Renn (1936) and Muehlstein et al (1988), using the same seagrass culture system as Steele et al (2005), and a Bcommon garden^approach to testing the various isolates and hosts. Briefly, plants were collected as single shoots and acclimated for one week as bare-root cultures while submerged singly within 38 L tanks of natural seawater (≈25-30°C and salinity of ≈ 25-30), with a 12:12 h light:dark cycle and a saturating irradiance of 200 μmol PAR m −2 s −1…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional, Phylogenetic and Host-Geographic Signatures of Labyrinthula spp. Provide for Putative Species Delimitation and a Global-Scale View of Seagrass Wasting Disease

Martín

Chiari

Boone

et al. 2016

Estuaries and Coasts

102

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Seagrass meadows form ecologically and economically valuable coastal habitat on every continental margin except the Antarctic, but their areal extent is declining by approximately 2-5 % per year. Seagrass wasting disease is a contributing factor in these declines, with the protist Labyrinthula identified as the etiologic agent. To help elucidate the role of Labyrinthula spp. in global seagrass declines, we surveyed roughly one fourth of all seagrass species to identify Labyrinthula diversity at the strain and/or species level, combining results from culturing methods and two common nuclear DNA markers: the ITS and 18S regions of the ribosomal RNA gene complex. After assaying a subset of the resulting isolates (of which 170 were newly sequenced), we produced a cladogenic context for putative seagrasspathogenic versus non-pathogenic Labyrinthula while also defining host and geographic ranges. Assays also suggest that pathogenicity is consistently high (when present; and, even when comparing susceptibility of US East-versus West Coast Zostera marina hosts) while virulence is variable, that some isolate-host combinations have the potential for host cross-infection, and that several modes of transmission can be effective. Taken together, these data provide additional means for delimiting putative species of Labyrinthula, suggesting at least five seagrass-pathogenic and perhaps ten or more non-pathogenic marine Bspecies^, yielding a working definition for ecologists and epidemiologists attempting to reconcile the sundry data related to seagrass wasting disease.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional, Phylogenetic and Host-Geographic Signatures of Labyrinthula spp. Provide for Putative Species Delimitation and a Global-Scale View of Seagrass Wasting Disease

Martín

Chiari

Boone

et al. 2016

Estuaries and Coasts

102

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“…cells stained purple in contrast to pink plant tissue and were located intracellularly within the mesophyll (e.g. Renn 1936, Porter 1972, Groner et al 2014. Active Labyrinthula spp.…”

Section: Histologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant characteristics associated with widespread variation in eelgrass wasting disease

Groner¹,

Burge²,

Kim³

et al. 2016

Dis. Aquat. Org.

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Seagrasses are ecosystem engineers of essential marine habitat. Their populations are rapidly declining worldwide. One potential cause of seagrass population declines is wasting disease, which is caused by opportunistic pathogens in the genus Labyrinthula. While infection with these pathogens is common in seagrasses, theory suggests that disease only occurs when environmental stressors cause immunosuppression of the host. Recent evidence suggests that host factors may also contribute to disease caused by opportunistic pathogens. In order to quantify patterns of disease, identify risk factors, and investigate responses to infection, we surveyed shoot density, shoot length, epiphyte load, production of plant defenses (phenols), and wasting disease prevalence in eelgrass Zostera marina across 11 sites in the central Salish Sea (Washington state, USA), a region where both wasting disease and eelgrass declines have been documented. Wasting disease was diagnosed by the presence of necrotic lesions, and Labyrinthula cells were identified with histology. Disease prevalence among sites varied from 6 to 79%. The probability of a shoot being diseased was higher in longer shoots, in patches of higher shoot density, and in shoots with higher levels of biofouling from epiphytes. Phenolic concentration was higher in diseased leaves. We hypothesize that this results from the induction of phenols during infection. Additional research is needed to evaluate whether phenols are an adaptive defense against Labyrinthula infection. The high site-level variation in disease prevalence emphasizes the potential for wasting disease to be causing some of the observed decline in eelgrass beds.

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“…SPIERENBURG (1933) also wrote an early paper on the eelgrass wasting disease, in which she carefully hypothesized that bacteria might be responsible for the disease. The Labyrinthula hypothesis was postulated a couple of years later by RENN (1934RENN ( , 1935RENN ( , 1936. Spierenburg doubted the existence of the 'numerous colourless spindle-shaped organisms, which moved in a very slow amoeboid manner' ( VAN OER WERFF, 1938) Van der Werff of 24 September 1936 she says: 'In my research of the sick eelgrass, I am continuously looking for your so called 'spindles', but they remain rather vague to me.…”

Section: The Eelgrass Wasting Disease In the Early Thirtiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The American literature gives more evidence for the Labyrinthula-hypothesis. It was RENN (1934RENN ( , 1935RENN ( , 1936RENN ( , 1937 …”

Section: Recent Ideasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causes of the eelgrass wasting disease: Van der Werff's changing theories

Nienhuis

1994

Netherlands Journal of Aquatic Ecology

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The Wasting Disease of Zostera Marina

Cited by 78 publications

References 6 publications

Functional, Phylogenetic and Host-Geographic Signatures of Labyrinthula spp. Provide for Putative Species Delimitation and a Global-Scale View of Seagrass Wasting Disease

Functional, Phylogenetic and Host-Geographic Signatures of Labyrinthula spp. Provide for Putative Species Delimitation and a Global-Scale View of Seagrass Wasting Disease

Plant characteristics associated with widespread variation in eelgrass wasting disease

Causes of the eelgrass wasting disease: Van der Werff's changing theories

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