Ciliate and bacterial communities associated with White Syndrome and Brown Band Disease in reef-building corals.

ABSTRACT: White Syndrome (WS) and Brown Band Disease (BrB) are important causes of reef coral mortality for which causal agents have not been definitively identified. Here we use culture-independent molecular techniques (DGGE and clone libraries) to characterize ciliate and bacterial communities in these diseases. Bacterial (16S rRNA gene) and ciliate (18S rRNA gene) communities were highly similar between the two diseases. Four bacterial and nine ciliate ribotypes were observed in both diseases, but absent in non-diseased specimens. Only one of the bacteria, Arcobacter sp. (JF831360) increased substantially in relative 16S rRNA gene abundance and was consistently represented in all diseased samples. Four of the eleven ciliate morphotypes detected contained coral algal symbionts, indicative of the i

SUBMITTER: Sweet M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3465780 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature