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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Olga Pantos, Dr Rory Cooney, Dr Martin Le Tissier, Dr Michael Barer, Professor Anthony O'Donnell, Professor John BythellORCiD
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The bacterial communities associated with the Caribbean coral Montastrea annularis showing tissue lesions indicative of a White Plague (WP)-like disease were investigated. Two molecular screening techniques using bacterial 16S rDNA genes were used and demonstrated distinct differences between the bacterial communities of diseased and non-diseased coral tissues, and also in relation to the proximity of tissue lesions on diseased corals. Differences between non-diseased corals and the apparently healthy tissues remote from the tissue lesion in affected corals indicates a 'whole coral' response to a relatively small area of infection with a perturbation in the normal microbial flora occurring prior to the onset of visible signs of disease. These whole organism changes in the microbial flora may serve as a bioindicator of environmental stress and disease. There were striking similarities between the 16S rDNA sequence composition associated with the WP-like disease studied here and that previously reported in association with black band disease (BBD) in coral. Similarities included the presence of a potential pathogen, an α-proteobacterium identified as the causal agent of juvenile oyster disease (JOD). The WP-like disease studied here is apparently different to WP Type II because the bacterial species previously identified as the causal agent of WP Type II was not detected, although the symptoms of the two diseases are similar.
Author(s): Pantos O, Cooney RP, Le Tissier MDA, Barer MR, O'Donnell AG, Bythell JC
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Environmental Microbiology
Year: 2003
Volume: 5
Issue: 5
Pages: 370-382
Print publication date: 01/05/2003
ISSN (print): 1462-2912
ISSN (electronic): 1462-2920
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1462-2920.2003.00427.x
DOI: 10.1046/j.1462-2920.2003.00427.x
PubMed id: 12713463
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